4££r£> 



Th[ Campaigns or 
the Confederate Army 



E 
M91 




A. L. HULL 




Class JE- 5*4-5" 
Book >H3 i 
Copyright N° 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



The Campaigns of 
The Confederate Army 



BY 

AUGUSTUS LONGSTREET HULL 

Secretary of the University of Georgia 
ATHENS, GA. 



ATLANTA, GA. 

FOOTE & DAVIES COMPANY 

Printers and Binders 

J 901 



THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two Cofits Received 

AUG. 22 1901 

COPYRKJHT ENTRY 

CLASSit* XXc. N» 
COPY B. 



COPYRIGHT, 1901, 
By A. L. HULL. 






In the preparation of the following pages, which were originally 
intended for lectures, acknowledgment of valuable aid is made to 
the Century Company's "War Papers," to the "Life of Robert E. 
Lee" by Rev. Henry A. "White, and to General James Longstreet. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. — The Virginia Campaigns ..... 7 

II — Manassas 10 

III. — The Peninsular Campaign ..... 13 

IV. — The Valley Campaign . . ... . 16 

V. — The Seven Days Fight ..... 18 

VI.— Second Manassas 21 

VII. — Sharpsburg . .24 

VIII. —Fredericksburg 30 

IX. — Chancellorsville ....... 33 

X. — Gettysburg 35 

XI. — The Eetreat and Mine Run .... 39 

XII. — The Wilderness and Spottsylvania . . 41 

XIII. — North Anna and Cold Harbor .... 45 

XIV. — Petersburg 47 

XV. — Appomattox ........ 50 

XVI. — The Western Campaigns. Fort Donelson . 55 

XVII.— Shiloh 57 

XVIII. — New Orleans and the Kentucky Campaign . 60 

XIX. — Perryyille and Murfreesboro ... i 62 

XX. — Vicksburg 65 

XXI. — Chickamauga 67 



6 CONTENTS. 

XXII. — Missionary Riihje ...... 70 

XXIII. — The Atlanta Campaign ...... 73 

XXIV. — Franklin and Nashville ..... 77 

XXV.— Sherman's March 7'.' 

XXVI. — Surrender of the Western Army. Olvstee . 8.". 

XXVII. — The Trans-Mississippi Campaign S5 

XXVIII. — The Confederate Cavalry .... 89 

XXIX.— Cavalry Leaders °2 

XXX. — The Confederate Navy 96 

XXXI.— The Destroyers 100 

XXXII. — Incidents of the War 103 




I Sr-S . 




H ' $ 




THE CAMPAIGNS OF 
THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGNS. 

There exists among the young people of the South a wide- 
spread ignorance of the War of Secession. This is a source 
of much regret to those who lived through those stirring 
times and helped to make the glorious record of the South- 
ern States. Our children, with all the advantages of their 
schools, are familiar enough with the English wars, but they 
are profoundly ignorant of the great struggle which shook 
the very foundations of their own country. They can repeat 
the victories of Napoleon, but they know nothing of the 
campaigns of Lee and Johnston. They can recount the ex- 
ploits of the soldiers of the Eevolution, but naught can they 
tell of that heroic army composed of their own fathers and 
grandsires that was for four years the admiration of the 
world. Nor are they to be blamed for this. Until a few 
years since, all the histories to which they had access were 
written by Northern men, and if in their brief account of 
the war between the States they spared the South some cen- 
sure, they also withheld any approval of its action or its 
armies. There was then no source except by tradition from 
which our young people could learn the history which their 
fathers made. 

In this brief history no reference will be made to the 
causes of the war, save to insist right here that it was no 

7 



8 THE OAMPAICHfB 01 THE 0ONFSDBBAT1 AUMV. 

"rebellion," although the word has found ita way into the 
acts of Congress. Nor is there any attempt to write a his- 
tory of the war, hut simply to offer an outline of the brave 
deeds and brilliant victories of the Confederate army. And 
while it is the intention of the writer to glorify the Confed- 
erate soldier, he intends no disparagement of his brave antag- 
onist. They were all Americans. If they had not been, that 
bloody war would never have lasted for four long years. 

The military operations of the Confederate States were 
carried on under three separate organizations: the Army of 
Northern Virginia, the Army of Tennessee, and the Army 
of the West. 

The first repelled the invasion of Virginia from the North. 
The Army of Tennessee defended a frontier of more than 
five hundred miles, reaching from the Alleghanies to the Mis- 
sissippi. The Army of the West held the line from Memphis 
to Galveston. 

Besides these three grand divisions, there were the garri- 
sons of the various forts, with their supporting battalions, 
which defended the blockaded ports on the southern coasts. 
In order to avoid any confusion, we will take up their cam- 
paigns separately. 

The objective point of all the Federal advances in Virginia 
was Richmond. The seat of the Confederate government 
had been moved to that city in the spring of 1861, and every 
attempt on the part of the Army of the Potomac was directed 
to the capture of the capital of the Confederacy. 

During the four years of war the opposing armies engaged 
in nine great campaigns: First Manassas or Bull Run, the 
Peninsular, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, 
Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and Petersburg. 

During that time the Army of Northern Virginia had but 
two commanders — Joseph E. Johnston and Robert E. Lee. 



THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGNS. 9 

The Army of the Potomac was commanded successively by 
Generals McDowell, McClelland, Halleck, Burnside, Hooker, 
Meade, and Grant. 

In the limitations of this little book, we can only sketch 
out these campaigns, noticing the main conflicts in each, 
for there were hundreds of skirmishes between small bodies 
of troops which we can not even name here. 



CHAPTEB II. 

MANASSAS. 

On July 16, 1861, the Federal army, under General Mc- 
Dowell, had concentrated at Centreville, Va., aboul twenty- 
five miles from Washington City by railroad. 

Their object was to seize the railroad and march to Rich- 
mond. Their inarch was opposed by the Confederates un- 
der General Beauregard, stationed about five miles away, 
behind a creek called Bull Run. General Johnston was 
sixty miles away in the Shenandoah Valley on the other side of 
the Blue Ridge. Some skirmishing a day or two in advance 
brought Johnston from the valley with troops under Generals 
Bee, Bartow and Jackson. 

General McDowell ordered the attack to be made early 
July 21st, and the battle lasted from 6 a. M. till 5 p. if. 

We can not here describe the battle in detail. A large 
force of the Federals by a detour of five or six miles at- 
tempted to turn the flank of our army, but the clouds of 
dust made by that July march betrayed their design. 

Beauregard's whole plan was changed, and the battle shifted 
to another quarter. To oppose the advancing enemy Gen- 
erals Bee and Bartow occupied a commanding plateau near 
the house of Mrs. Henry, and the fiercest of the fight was 
for the possession of this position. 

At first fortune favored the Federals. Under Sherman 
and Burnside they pressed the men of Evans, Bee and Bar- 
tow until they gave way before the hot artillery cross-fire. 
Then the gallant Bee, pointing to Jackson on the opposite 

10 



MANASSAS. 11 

knoll, cried, "Look at Jackson ! There he stands like a stone 
wall. Kally behind him \" Thus christened in blood and 
fire, the hero is known to the whole world as "Stonewall 
Jackson." The men responded to their leader's appeal and 
with a charge and a yell they repelled the enemy. In a sec- 
ond charge the brave Bee fell and a few minutes later the 
gallant Bartow was mortally wounded. 

At a critical moment Kirby Smith arrived with reinforce- 
ments from the valley and a general attack wrested the bat- 
teries from the Federals, leaving them shorn of their strength, 
and then the rout began. 

The brave troops which had marched out from Washington 
with banners flying, keeping step to the music of well- 
trained bands, accompanied by citizens, congressmen and 
ladies in carriages to cheer them on to Eichmond, were now a 
mass of frightened fugitives, who strewed the road for thirty 
miles back to Long Bridge with the impedimenta of the 
camp. 

The battle of Manassas, although a victory for our arms, 
was as demoralizing as a defeat. Soldiers left their com- 
mands without leave ; some to exhibit the trophies of the bat- 
tle-field; some to attend sick or wounded friends; some be- 
lieving the war was over, left for their homes. 

Well-informed public men expressed the opinion that Man- 
assas was the decisive battle of the war and there would be no 
more fighting. Our people became over-confident. They 
believed the "Yankee" couldn't fight anyhow. The effect 
upon the North was different. Their defeat aroused them to 
greater and more determined efforts. Thousands of volun- 
teers poured into Washington, and millions of dollars were 
appropriated for further equipments. 

The immediate fruits of our victory was the ample supply 
of captured arms, cartridges, cannon and equipments, things 



12 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE COM KI'KK ATK ARMY. 

we Borelv needed, and for the lack of which hundreds of vol- 
unteers were idly waiting in Richmond. 

Manassas, because the first, has hem regarded as one of 
the greatest battles of the war. Xel the Federals lost but 
thirty-five hundred men and the Confederates two thousand, 
while each side had eighteen thousand engaged in battle. 
Compare these figures with the eighty-seven thousand Feder- 
als opposed to thirty-seven thousand Confederates at Sharps- 
burg, where the former lost twelve thousand and the latter 
thirteen thousand men. 

From June till November an attempt was made to main- 
tain the Confederate authority in the mountainous region 
of West Virginia. The native population, as was true of 
the mountain ranges throughout the South, were intensely 
Union in sentiment. Not a recruit was made. On the con- 
trary, every aid was given the Union forces under McClel- 
land and Rosecrans by guides through the mountain passes 
and otherwise. 

The engagements in this campaign amounted to little more 
than skirmishes. The roads were almost impassable to 
troops and the positions inaccessible for artillery. 

The Confederates sustained a serious loss in the death, in 
June, of General Robert S. Garnett. General Henry R. 
Jackson succeeded him in command and General Lee suc- 
ceeded General Jackson. Nothing was accomplished in this 
campaign, although our troops suffered greatly in that diffi- 
cult region, and when our forces were withdrawn the Alle- 
ghanies became the western limit of the Confederacy. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 



After the battle of Manassas for the remainder of the 
summer our troops occupied positions within ten miles of 
Washington, but no actions occurred except the affair of 
Ball's Bluff, in which the Federals were driven into the Poto- 
mac and were nearly all drowned or captured. A fight oc- 
curred at Dranesville which was almost as disastrous to our 
men. As winter approached General Johnston withdrew to 
Centreville and went into winter quarters. 

In the meantime General Geo. B. McClelland had been 
placed in command of the Army of the Potomac. When the 
spring of 1862 opened he had the choice of four routes to 
Richmond. 

1. The original route by Manassas Junction and the Or- 
ange Railroad. 

2. By way of Fredericksburg. 

3. From the Lower Rappahannock. 

4. From Yorktown up the Peninsula. 
General McClelland chose the last. 

Since May, 1861, our forces under General Magruder had 
occupied Yorktown. The strip of land between the York 
and James rivers is known as the Peninsula. Fortress 
Monroe is on the lower end. Yorktown is a little higher up on 
the York River. Between the two is Bethel Church, where 
the first skirmish of the war was fought. General Johnston 
decided to evacuate Yorktown and retire to a position nearer 
to Richmond. He was a master of retreat and this one was 

13 



11 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

methodically made, while McClelland cautiously followed. 
\i Williamsburg a Btand was made. McClelland attacked 
on May 5th. The battle continued till dark and the advan- 
tages were with the Confederates. 

The object of the battle of Williamsburg on the part of 
Johnston was to gain time to remove his wagon-trains and 
to engage the enemy until the road was clear. This object 
was attained and on the next day the march was resumed 
in the direction of Richmond. Retreating by gradual stages, 
Johnston halted his army within nine miles of Richmond, 
behind entrenched lines. McClelland advanced to Fair Oaks 
station on the railroad and also entrenched. 

On May 31st Johnston attacked and the battle of Seven 
Pines, called by the Federals "Fair Oaks," was begun. This 
was the first of a series of battles lasting for a month, during 
which time McClelland vainly endeavored to reach Rich- 
mond, finally abandoning the attempt and retreating to the 
protection of his gunboats. 

The battle of Seven Pines was begun about 2 p. m., and 
was renewed the next day. The attempt of the first day was 
but partially successful. The Federals were driven back 
about a mile and then held their ground. About dark Gen- 
eral Johnston was severely wounded — hit by a rifle-ball and 
knocked from his horse by a shell. The command devolved 
upon General Gustavus W. Smith. It was Johnston's inten- 
tion to renew the attack the next morning, but General Smith 
was not so inclined. The fight was not pushed with vigor 
and he gave orders to withdraw the troops. About noon Gen- 
eral Robert E. Lee was assigned to the command of the army, 
and at once took charge, the troops having reoccupied their 
former positions. 

The battle of Seven Pines, while a victory for our side, was 



THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN. 15 

without results. The Confederates had fifteen thousand men 
engaged and lost six thousand. The Federals had nineteen 
thousand engaged and lost five thousand. We captured four 
hundred prisoners, six cannon and three thousand new rifles. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE VALLEY CAMPAIGN. 

Let us go back a little. May 1, 1862, found Stonewall 
Jackson in the valley, near Staunton, with sixteen thousand 
men. Opposed to him were eighty thousand, under General 
Banks, scattered along the valley as far as Winchester. It 
was the intention of the Federals to send sixty thousand of 
these troops to reinforce McClelland, w r ho was then planning 
his advance on Richmond. Suddenly the appalling news 
was spread among the Virginians that Jackson had aban- 
doned the valley and had fled to the east of the Blue Ridge. 
The enemy soon heard of it. But while they were congratu- 
lating themselves, Jackson suddenly appeared before Gen- 
eral Milroy, near McDowell, Va., attacked and defeated him, 
and drove him further west of the mountains. Resting his 
men a few days and leaving a detachment to watch Milroy, 
by forced marches he hurried to Front Royal and there sur- 
prised and defeated the enemy, who fled up the valley towards 
Winchester. 

The next day at Newton Jackson struck Banks, and 
whipped him, capturing many prisoners and immense quanti- 
ties of military stores, including nine thousand stand of 
arms, all new and in perfect order. Banks made a stand at 
Winchester, but was again defeated and fled across the Po- 
tomac and sent a dispatch congratulating the governm?nt that 
he was safe ! 

All this time General Fremont was near Franklia, Va., 
with fourteen thousand men. When he heard of Bank's de- 
feat, he moved to cut off Jackson on his way back to Staun- 
ton. General Shields was sent from the east to join Fre- 

16 



THE VALLEY CAMPAK4N. 17 

mcmt. Jackson marched to Cross Keys, near Harrisonville, 
attacked Fremont and after a severe battle was master of 
the field. 

That night Jackson told General Patton: "Throw out 
all your men before Fremont so as to make him think the 
whole army is behind you. I will join you in the morning. 
I shall attack Shields ai sunrise and by the blessing of God 
I hope to be back by ten o'clock." 

Did ever before a man calculate the time it would take 
him to whip an opposing enemy ! 

Leaving General Ewell to watch Fremont, General Jack- 
son crossed the river that night with the rest of his army 
and marched to Port Eepublic to find Shields. Early next 
morning he attacked the enemy, defeated them and drove 
them eight miles. 

In thirty-five days this remarkable soldier had marched 
three hundred miles, fought four battles, winning them all, 
and captured military stores enough to arm and equip his en- 
tire army. His losses aggregated eighteen hundred; those of 
the Federals forty-six hundred. 

Resting his men a few days, Jackson suddenly took up his 
line of march and on June 25th, while McDowell was watching 
the approaches to Washington from the valley with fifty thou- 
sand men, McClelland a hundred miles away on the Chicka- 
hominy was astounded to find Jackson on his flank. 

The prime factors in Stonewall Jackson's success were his 
secrecy and his promptness to act. He confided in no one. 
None but himself knew where his march would end. His 
men had unbounded confidence in him, and so rapidly did 
they move from place to place that they were known as 
"Jackson's foot cavalry." 

"Where are you going?" was asked of one as he went by 
on the march. 

"I don't know; but old Jack does," said he. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE SEVEN DAYS FIGHT. 

General Lee, having matured his plans for the campaign, 
after assuming command of the army, directed Stonewall 
Jackson with as much secrecy as possible to join him at the 
Nine Mile Road, near Richmond. This was done with such 
success that the Federals were completely bewildered as to 
his movements. Their official dispatches show that on June 
10th he was believed to have sixty thousand men and was 
marching from Port Republic after Fremont. June 13th he 
was reported to be at Charlottesville and moving either against 
Shields at Luray or against King at Catletts, or against 
Doubleday at Fredericksburg. On the 16th it was certain that 
he was near Front Royal. June 18th he had gone to Richmond, 
bul had left Ewell with ten thousand men in the valley. On 
the 19th Banks was sure he was moving down the valley with 
thirty thousand troops. On the 20th telegrams were received 
saying that Jackson was moving on Warren. On June 22d 
reliable reports said that he was about to attack Banks at 
Middletown. On the 25th Fremont was expecting an at- 
tack from the direction of Tennessee, and on the 26 th of 
June, while McClelland's pickets were being driven in by 
Jackson's advance, Secretary Staunton was telegraphing Mc- 
Clelland that the forces in the valley under Major General 
Pope were preparing to attack and overcome Jackson and 
Ewell, and threaten Richmond from the direction of Char- 
lottesville ! 

On June 26th General Lee attacked McClelland at Mechan- 

18 



THE SEVEN DAYS FIGHT. 19 

icsville. It was the beginning of a succession of battles 
known as the Seven Days Fight, comprising Mechanicsville, 
Beaverdam Creek, Gaines Mill, Cold Harbor, Savage Station, 
Frazer s Farm, White Oak Swamp and Malvern Hill. 

The fight at Mechanicsville was bloody, and the losses to 
the Confederates were heavy. The Federals were driven back 
and took refuge behind strong defenses at Beaverdam Creek. 
The next morning, always taking the offensive, Lee attacked 
them at Gaines Mill and at Cold Harbor. The Federals were 
in a strong position still further strengthened by log breast- 
works and rifle-pits, but dashing through dense swamps and 
over breastworks the impetuous Confederates drove back the 
enemy and swept the field. 

In this advance General Jackson with a few staff officers 
had ridden ahead of his skirmish lines and found himself in 
front of a squad of fifteen Federal soldiers. Instantly 
charging upon them he demanded their surrender and car- 
ried them back as prisoners. The prisoners told it themselves, 
and one of them called out as he passed, "Gentlemen, I had 
the honor of being captured by General Stonewall Jackson 
himself." 

The result of the repeated assaults of Lee's army was the 
retreat of McClelland across the Chickahominy to Malvern 
Hill, a position of great strength, near the James Eiver. His 
retreat was accompanied by the destruction of immense quan- 
tities of quartermaster's stores and ammunition, which he 
could not remove. The whole country was full of deserted 
plunder of every description — wagons, provisions, clothing, 
medicine-chests and arms — all destroyed or as nearly so as 
was possible during the retreat. 

General Lee attacked at Malvern Hill on July 1st. Charge 
after charge was made by the gallant Confederates, but with 
no results except great slaughter. The battle continued till 



20 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

9 o'clock at night when the exhausted Southerner? laid ilown 
to snatch a few hours' bIi ep, and then renew the assault. But 
during the night McClelland skilfully withdrew to the cover 
of his gunboats at Harrison's landing, on the James River. 
and subsequently retreated further down the Peninsula, and 
Richmond was relieved. 

In every attack the Confederates had found the enemy 
behind strong defenses, and hence the fearful loss of twenty 
thousand of our men. But so fierce were their assaults that 
the Federals themselves lost fifteen thousand. 

McClelland'a fight at Frazer's Farm was made for the 
same reason as Johnston's at Williamsburg — to gain time for 
the removal of his trains. After that he was in full retreat. 

In the Seven Days Fight, Generals McCall and Reynolds, of 
the Union army, were captured and General Meade was badly 
wounded. 



CHAPTER VI. 



SECOND MANASSAS. 



General McClelland's failure to take Richmond resulted in 
his own removal and the appointment of General Henry W. 
Halleek in his place. 

While McClelland was retreating down the Peninsula, 
General John Pope, commanding a corps of forty-seven thou- 
sand strong, was cautiously moving towards Richmond along 
the Orange & Alexandria Railroad — the old Manassas route. 
After the battle of Malvern Hill, General Lee sent Stonewall 
Jackson to confront and watch Pope. On August 9th oc- 
curred the battle of Cedar Mountain, in which our General 
Winder was killed and in which Jackson was victorious. 

About a week later, leaving Magruder to defend the Penin- 
sula route, General Lee marched the remainder of his army 
up to Gordonsville and threatened Washington. Thor- 
oughly alarmed, the authorities ordered up McClelland's 
forces to reinforce Pope. The two armies manoeuvered for 
position and the clouds of war gathered thick. 

In one of his characteristic raids, Stuart rode into the head- 
quarters of General Pope, captured his clothing and personal 
equipment, his official dispatches and $350,000 of United 
States currency. 

On August 26th the Federals were occupying Warrenton 
and the line of the railroad north of the Rappahannock. 
General Longstreet was opposite them, at Waterloo Bridge, 
awaiting developments. General Lee sent Jackson oft on 
one of his erratic marches towards the Blue Ridge with three 

21 



22 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

days 1 rations, apparently Leaving Longstrcet alone to cope 
with the entire Federal army. No one but Lee and Jackson 
knew where he was going. Behind the mountain ridge he 
turned sharply to the right, passed through Thoroughfare Gap 
in the Bull Run Mountains and arrived at Gainesville, where 
he was joined by Stuart's cavalry, and then pushed on to 
Bristow's Station, on the railroad. 

General Pope now had the Rappahannock on one side of 
him, Longstrcet in front and Jackson in the rear, cutting off 
his railroad communications. 

At Manassas Junction there was accumulated a vast quan- 
tity of stores of every kind for the maintenance of the army. 
The Twenty-first Georgia and the Twenty-first Xorth Caro- 
lina regiments, under General Trimble, with a part of Stuart's 
cavalry, marched on to capture this vast prize. The defense 
was slight; three thousand prisoners were captured without 
the loss of a man on our side. Jackson's men fairly reveled 
in the abundance of luxuries. They took all they could and 
destroyed a million dollars' worth of stores. They had out 
the enemy's communications, burnt the bridges behind him 
and destroyed his reserve supplies. Realizing the situation, 
Pope turned upon Jackson and a sanguinary fight occurred 
at Groveton, a few miles west of the old battle-field of 
Manassas. 

Meanwhile Longstrcet had inarched behind the ridge and 
came through Thoroughfare Gap the next morning, joining 
Jackson upon the victorious field of the day before. The 
Federals had now retired to a stronger position — the identical 
position for which the struggle was made at the first battle 
of Manassas. On the next day the battle was joined upon 
the memorable field of 1861. The fighting was desperate. 
The combat lasted until dark and the victory was curs. 
When night came General Pope was beyond Bull Run on his 



SECOND MANASSAS. 23 

way to Washington and our men slept amid thousands of 
the dead of both armies. 

When General Pope took command of the Army of the 
Potomac he issued an address, saying that he had come from 
the West, where he had always seen the backs of the enemy; 
he desired his men to dismiss from their minds such expres- 
sions as "lines of retreat" and "bases of supplies." "Let us," 
said he, "study the probable lines of retreat of our enemy. 
Success and glory are in the advance; disaster and shame 
lurk in the rear." That is just where he found them and from 
this time we hear no more of General John Pope until he 
turned up as a military governor of Georgia under the Eadical 
reconstruction administration. With an army of fiftv-five 
thousand men, Lee had driven eighty thousand into the forti- 
fications of Washington, had captured thirty guns, twenty 
thousand rifles, and taken seven thousand prisoners. 

The Confederate losses in this campaign were eleven thou- 
sand, while the Federals lost seventeen thousand. Among 
the former were Generals Winder, Baylor, Taliaferro, Field 
and Corse; among the latter, Generals Kearney, Stevens, 
Bohlen, Taylor, and Fletcher Webster, the son of Daniel 
Webster. 



CHAPTER VII. 



SIIAlJl'SJiURG. 



1 1 aeral Lee gave hie army bu1 little rest, Richmond for the 
time being was safe. The Federals were utterly demoralized 
and were hugging the defenses of Washington. Virginia was 
exhausted by the waste of both armies and the desolation of 
war. The fertile fields of the Cumberland Valley offered 
abundant supplies, and the promise of recruits from Mary- 
land was alluring. General Lee determined to invade Penn- 
sylvania, and on September 5th, one week after the battle of 
Manassas, he crossed the Potomac and marched to Frederick 
City, Alary land. 

The people of Frederick City showed no sympathy with him. 
Apparently they were all Unionists. 

Harper's Ferry was held by the Federal Colonel Miles with 
twelve thousand men. It was determined to invest it. Gen- 
erals Jackson, McLaws and Walker were sent to attack on 
three sides. Shut in with artillery threatening him from 
the surrounding heights, the Federal commander surrendered 
at discretion. 

In the meantime Longstreet and D. H. Hill were sent 
on to Hagerstown. McClelland had been reinstated as com- 
mander of the Federal army and, with his extraordinary pow- 
ers of organization, soon had his army in fine condition and 
fighting trim. He was a great favorite with his soldiers, and 
his reappearance at their head was hailed with exclamations 
of delight. 

General McClelland was the most accomplished soldier on 
tin' Union side that the war produced. General Dick 

24 



8HARP8BUEG. 25 

Taylor said, "He impressed a generous, chivalric spirit on 
the war which soon faded away; and the future historian in 
recounting some of the later operations will doubt if he is 
dealing with campaigns of generals or expeditions of brig- 
ands." 

Moving cautiously to meet and intercept Lee's advance, 
the Federal commander had no thought of giving offensive 
battle until one of those accidents of war occurred which 
changed the whole character of the campaign. 

General Lee had sent a written order to his generals as- 
signing positions to the different commands. A second copy 
of this command was sent by Stonewall Jackson to 
D. H. Hill. The first order was carelessly lost by the courier, 
picked up by a Federal scout and carried to McClelland. It 
gave him the key to all of General Lee's plans. Immediately 
McClelland planned an attack on Hill, while he sent General 
Franklin with fourteen thousand men to relieve Harper's 
Ferry. At Crampton's Gap, General Cobb's brigade and 
Mumford's cavalry, twenty-two hundred strong, held the pass. 
They were attacked by sixty-five hundred of Franklin's divi- 
sion and after a desperate fight were driven back, losing 
nearly half their men. General Franklin said this was the 
only battle up to that time in which the Army of the Poto- 
mac had been victorious. 

Meanwhile, on the 14th of September, General D. H. Hill 
at Boonesboro, Md., was attacked by McClelland. The con- 
tention was over the passes of South Mountain. Thirteen 
thousand Federals were opposed to four thousand Confeder- 
ates. The defense was stubborn and the position was held 
until the closing day, when the mountain passes were forced 
and the enemy held the commanding ridges. General Lee's 
situation was not an enviable one. His army was divided; 
Longstreet at Hagerstown, Hill retreating from Boonesboro, 



26 THE CAMPAIGN8 OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

Jackson and McLawa at Harper's Perry, and the enemy in 
front with full possession of his plans. If McClelland had 
pushed his advance with any vigor, the Confederate army 
must have heen annihilated. 

Genera] Hill retired on the nexl day and General Loc con- 
centrated his army Dear Sharpshnrg on the Antietam Creek, 
Jackson and McLaws having come up from the capture of 
Harper's Ferry and Longstreet marching down from Hagers- 
town. 

The Confederates took their positions facing Antietam 
Creek, with the town of Sharpshnrg behind them. The 
Federals were on the other side of the Creek and sought to 
cross it and attack Lee's flank. 

Early on September 17th the Woodiest battle of the war 
was begun. McClelland hurled eighty-seven thousand men 
against Lee's thirty-nine thousand. All day the battle raged, 
now around the Dunkard's Church, where Jackson repelled the 
serried ranks of Hooker's men; now^ along the "bloody 
lane," where D. H. Hill met the fierce assaults of French; now 
at the bridge, where Toombs with a single brigade of Geor- 
gians kept back Burn side's Ninth Corps from Lee's flank. 
The slaughter was terrific. The position at Dunkard's 
Church was taken and retaken; the passage of the bridge was 
forced and the enemy driven back again; Hill gave back 
before the continued hammering of his antagonists and ral- 
lied again and again. One-fourth of Lee's army was killed 
or wounded and so exhausted were they by continuous march- 
ing and fighting and fasting that, although they slept upon 
the field of battle which they had held against such fearful 
odds, ten thousand fresh troops could have completely de- 
stroyed them. 

But the Federal commander did not seize his opportunity. 
All the next day both armies remained in position. That 



SHARPBBURG. 27 

night General Lee withdrew his whole army across the Po- 
tomac and camped around Winchester. 

In this battle Generals R. H. Anderson, Lawton, Walker, 
Gregg, Jones, Ripley, Rodes, Gordon and Pierce Young were 
wounded ; Generals Branch, Starke, Garland and Geo. B. An- 
derson were killed. General D. H. Hill had three horses shot 
under him. The Federals lost Generals Reno, Richardson, 
Rodman, and Mansfield, killed, while Hooker, Hatch, Hart- 
stuff, Gallagher, Sedgwick, Dana, Weber, Crawford, Ruger 
and Rutherford B. Hayes were wounded. 

If such were the casualties among the general officers, what 
must have been the slaughter among the line who bore the 
brunt of the battle ! So fearful was the carnage that a Fed- 
eral patrol passing into the cornfield where the fighting was 
fiercest thought they had surprised a Confederate brigade. 
There in the shadow of the woods lay the skirmishers, their 
muskets beside them, and there in regular ranks lay the line 
of battle, sleeping, it seemed, the profound sleep of exhaustion. 
But the first man they touched was cold and lifeless, and 
the next, and the next; it was the bivouac of the dead. 

General Longstreet relates that during a lull in the battle 
he, General Lee and General D. H. Hill went to a neighboring 
elevation to reconnoiter the field, the first two dismounting, 
but General Hill remaining on his horse. A battery across 
the creek opened fire on them. "There's a shot for General 
Hill," said Longstreet. No sooner said than a cannon-ball 
struck Hill's horse, going through both forelegs and bring- 
ing the poor animal to its knees. 

Colonel Kingsbury, who was killed while gallantly leading 
a Connecticut regiment near "Bumside's Bridge," was broth- 
er-in-law to General D. R. Jones, who commanded the Con- 
federates immediately opposing him. General Jones was 
deeply affected by his death. His health had not been good, 



28 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

and he asked for leave of absence shortly afterwards and in 
a lVw months died. 

The First Texas Regiment lost eighty-two per cent, of 
those who went into battle, and one company of the Twenty- 
sixth North Carolina lost ninety-six per cent, of those en- 
I. Another regiment, once eight hundred strong, went 
into the battle with forty-sis muskets, and one of its com- 
panies, which had mustered one hundred men, had one lieu- 
it Lefj to call thf roll and one private to answer "Here." 

Let one of them tell the tale. 

The fight has begun. The regiment is lying prone upon a 
ridge, with rifles pointed and every sense alert, awaiting the 
advance of the enemy. The firing of the cannon is incessant. 
The boom now in concert, now as if in file, the hurtling shells 
hissing and screaming as they cut the air, then exploding 
with a loud report, the moaning of the minie-balls, singing 
the gamut as they pass and stopping with a thud as they 
strike, all make a scene of horror. A shell explodes not far 
above the prostrate line, tearing to pieces a soldier just be- 
neath, shattering his form and bespattering those on either 
side with his blood. The body quivers a moment, then is 
still. Two others limp to the rear badly wounded. "Ready, 
men," speaks the quick tones of the officer. With clenched 
teeth and quivering nerves, the men await the coming of the 
foe. Their faces are pale, but not with fear; their hearts 
throb, but not with apprehension of defeat. "Steady, men; 
they are coming," say the officers in low tones. The click of 
the hammers as the guns are cocked is distinctly heard, and 
the supreme moment is come. Up the hill but out of sight 
come the advancing enemy ; the loud commands of their offi- 
cers, the clank of their equipments, the steady tramp of many 
feet are easily discerned. "Steady, boys ! Don't fire until 
they get in full view," says the colonel. First above the crest 



BHARPSBURG. 29 

appears the gilt eagle that surmounts the pole, then the flag 
itself ; then their hats come into view, and faces with curious 
eyes looking about them ; then a hurrah : "Keep cool, men !" 
— and as the glistening bayonets appear — "Now fire !" A 
sheet of fire, a storm of lead pours straight into their breasts 
not fifty yards away. It staggers them, and as the smoke is 
blown away great gaps in their ranks are seen and on the 
ground forms in blue writhing in pain or lying quite still. 
"Forward ! Charge them !" rings out the command ; and 
thi.t line of gray with a ringing yell springs up, delivers an- 
other volley, which is answered in return, and rushes with 
fierce assault upon the ranks of blue, which wavers first, then 
turns in flight. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FREDERICKSBURG. 

After the battle of Sharpsburg, both armies rested for a 
month. Then the Federals took up their march for Rich- 
mond by way of Fredericksburg. The middle of November 
found them on Stafford Heights, across the Rappahannock 
River, under the command of General Burnside, who had been 
appointed to supercede McClelland. General Lee had moved 
his army along with the other and held Fredericksburg. Be- 
hind the town is a ridge extending for several mile?, and 
here he placed his batteries. On this ridge is Marye's Hill, 
so called from its owner, whose residence overlooks the city 
a mile away. 

The Federal General Sumner demanded the surrender of 
the city and threatened to bombard it if refused. This 
caused the exodus of women and children, who, in carriages, 
in carts and on foot, tramped to the rear with such valuables 
as they could carry, leaving their homes with no expectation 
of ever seeing them again except in ruins. 

Three weeks were spent in fortifying the positions on both 
sides, the Confederates with three hundred and six cannon, 
the Federals with three hundred and seven. On December 
11th the Federals fired the signal gun for the advance and 
attempted to cross the Rappahannock on pontoon bridges. 
Barksdale's Mississippians were posted on the river bank, with 
the Third Georgia Regiment in reserve. The pickets drove 
off the bridge-builders until the attempt was abandoned. Then 
after a terrific fire of artillery which crushed the houses like 
eggshells, the enemy repeated the attempt, crossed the river, 

30 



FREDERICKSBURG. 31 

gained a foothold, were reinforced and took possession of the 
town. 

All the next day they were sending over their troops and 
taking positions in the town, and at a point about five miles 
below on the railroad known as Hamilton's Crossing. 

At the foot of Marye's Hill, running out of Fredericksburg 
into the country, is a sunken road, washed out below the 
level of the adjacent ground, with retaining walls of stone 
on either side about breast high. In this road Cobb's brigade 
of Georgians with the Twenty-fifth North Carolina Eegiment 
was stationed to meet the Federal advance, with the remainder 
of Longstreet's Corps in reserve on the slope of the hill and 
beyond. The heights above were crowned with artillery un- 
der General E. P. Alexander. 

At Hamilton's Crossing Stonewall Jackson, supported by 
D. H. Hill, was awaiting the enemy's advance. In this posi- 
tion sixty-nine thousand Confederates were confronted by 
one hundred and thirty-two thousand Federals. 

The morning of December 13th broke, but the opposing 
armies were hid from each other by an impenetrable mist. 
About ten o'clock the fog lifted and the battle was begun. 
Meade's men at the crossing marched with steady tread until 
they were halted by a deadly fire from Jackson's ranks. In 
alternate advance and retreat the fight continued until two 
o'clock, when the Federals withdrew a little, leaving the 
railroad in our lines. 

In the meantime a fierce but forlorn onslaught was made 
on Marye's Hill. Coming out from town the assaulting col- 
umn of the enemy formed behind a slight swell in the ground 
and advanced, only to give way before the galling fire from 
the stone wall. And thus in succession fourteen brigades un- 
der French, Hancock, Sturges, Getty, Griffin, Humphrey and 
Sykes, marched gallantly to meet death and destruction be- 



:$2 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

fore the sheets of flame and lead which poured upon them 
from the sunken road. 

About one o'clock General Thomas R. R. Cobb was killed. 
era] Kershaw with his brigade of South Carolinians and 
Ransom's North Carolinians, reinforced the gallant Georgians 
and tlif road was now filled with men, the rear ranks Loading 
and passing the guns to the front so that the firing was in- 
cessant. Only night put an end to the slaughter. 

The bravery of these charges against the stone wall in the 
face of death and certain defeat, has never been surpassed, 
and the morning light revealed a field covered with piles and 
cross-piles of the dead and wounded. One soldier came with- 
in one hundred feet of the stone wall before he fell, and a 
few scattering ones close behind him were all killed. Few 
prisoners were taken there, but eight thousand of the flower 
of the Federal army lay stretched upon that fatal field of 
battle. 

It was General Burnside's intention to renew the attack 
the next morning, but his generals urged him not to dc so, 
and on the 15th of December he recrossed the river and sent 
his troops to their camps at Falmouth, and both armies went 
into winter quarters. 

The battle of Fredericksburg restored the esprit of our 
army and greatly depressed the North. It was believed in 
the South that peace would be declared in sixty days. 



CHAPTER IX. 

CHANCELLOESVILLE. 

Burnside's failure was followed by his removal, and Gen- 
eral Hooker — "Fighting Joe Hooker," as he was called — 
was placed in command. Late in April, 1863, he made the 
fifth advance upon the Confederate capital, this time crossing 
the Rappahannock above Fredericksburg, with the design of 
flanking General Lee, who still held that place. The move- 
ment brought about the battle of Chancellorsville. 

The 30th of April found Hooker at Chancellorsville, ten 
miles from Fredericksburg, with fifty thousand men. Gen- 
eral Sickles with eighteen thousand men was within reach. 

Sedgwick with forty thousand was on the other side of 
Lee, below Fredericksburg. Thirteen thousand Federal cav- 
alry threatened his communications. Lee's forty-nine thou- 
sand ragged veterans were almost surrounded by one hundred 
and twenty-one thousand of the best equipped army in the 
world. 

But General Lee rose to the occasion. He was between 
the divided wings of the enemy and he prepared to deliver 
double battle. He moved nearer to Chancellorsville, leaving 
Early to hold Sedgwick back with eighty-five hundred men. 
In the dense wilderness of scrub oak, threaded by a few narrow 
roads, Hooker held a position of great strength. 

General Lee held the attention of the enemy in front while 
he sent Stonewall Jackson by a circuitous route around 
Hooker's rear. About 5 o'clock p. m. the Confederate yell 
rang out in Howard's rear and sent terror to the heart of the 

33 



34 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

foe. With Lee in front and Jackson behind them, bewildered 
by the close undergrowth, knowing not which way to turn, 
what could 1 hey expect but defeat! 

Darkness fell upon the field. General Jackson rode out 
about nine o'clock to reconnoitre. As he came back the pick- 
ets began firing. A Xorth Carolina regiment, mistaking the 
party for the enemy fired into them. Two were killed i-nd 
General Jackson was severely wounded. Then A. P. Hill was 
stricken down. Both were carried off the field and Stuart 
took command. 

Sunday morning, May 3d, General Lee attacked Hooker 
on three sides simultaneously. A cross-fire from well-posted 
batteries made the Federal position untenable. Three times 
it was captured and three times retaken by the stubborn foe. 
At ten o'clock General Hooker was wounded and his army 
was soon in retreat. General Lee rode with his troops in pur- 
suit. The air was filled with shells; the woocb were on fire; 
but as the beloved leader came into view, his victorious sol- 
diers, the wounded and the dying, cheered him above the din 
of battle. 

At the same time what is called the second battle of Freder- 
icksburg was fought. Sedgwick had driven back tbe one 
thousand Mississippi an s under Barksdale. McLaws met him 
and repulsed him. while Early got in his rear, retook Marve's 
Hill and forced him across the Rappahannock. Two days 
later the entire Federal army was in its old camp at Falmouth, 
across the river. 

The short campaign of a week had cost the enemy seventeen 
thousand men, fourteen guns and twenty thousand stand of 
arms. The Confederate victory was dearly bought. General 
Stonewall Jackson died on May 10th of the wounds received 
by the fatal blunder of his own men — a peerless soldier, an 
humble Christian. 



CHAPTER X. 

GETTYSBURG. 

After his disastrous defeat at Chancellorsville, General 
Hooker was relieved, as was usual, and General George Meade 
was appointed in his place. 

General Lee reorganized his army into three corps under 
Longstreet, Ewell and A. P. Hill, respectively. In June 
General Lee determined to invade Pennsylvania with the hope 
of drawing troops from the Federal army in the West, where 
they were getting the better of our men, and also to relieve 
Virginia for a time of the exhaustion of an army occupation. 

June 27, 1863, found the Confederate army at Chambers- 
burg, Pa., northwest of Gettysburg, while consternation 
reigned at Washington. Meade's whole army was called to 
the north of the Potomac. Mr. Lincoln prayed, "0 Lord, 
this is your fight, but we, your humble servants, can't stand 
another Fredericksburg or Chancellorsville." 

A few days later General Lee moved forward to Gettysburg 
and towards the enemy. Unfortunately for him, Stuart, 
with his cavalry, had gone on a raid around the Federal army. 
The cavalry is the eyes of the army; it discovers the location 
of the enemy and reports his movements. With the cavalry 
gone Lee was blind and groped about, not knowing where 
the enemy was until he ran against him. This fact enabled 
General Meade to select his own position and brought on the 
contest at Gettysburg, when it was General Lee's intention 
to fight farther south. It forced Lee to attack a strong posi- 
tion defended by superior numbers, instead of being attacked 
as at Fredericksburg in entrenchments of his own choosing. 

35 



B6 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE AIJMY. 






But, finding the enemy in possession, he must either drive 
him back or retreat himself. 

On July 1st the Federals were driven out of Gettysburg to 
the strungcr position on Cemetery Ridge. Cemetery Eidge 
begins at the cemetery just outside the town of Gettysburg 
and extends about two miles, terminating in two rocky excres- 
cences called Round Top and Little Round Top. 

On the 2d of July the other divisions of Lee's army gath- 
ered at Gettysburg. It was scattered from Chambersburg to 
Ilarrisburg. General Gordon had laid the City of York un- 
der contribution to purchase her safety. Stuart came in 
from his long ride, his men wearied and his horses jaded, 
having accomplished nothing of importance. Longstreet's 
Corps marched twenty-four miles to the rendezvous. 

The Federal lines formed along the ridge in the shape of 
a fish-hook. Culp's Hill was the point of the hook, while 
Round Top was at the end where the line is tied. General 
Lee disposed his forces around this fish-hook Tind planned his 
attack. It was his intention that Ewell should carry Culp's 
Hill and Longstreet follow the attack by an advance upon 
the ridge, thus striking the enemy in front and rear, while 
a battery on Round Top would hurl its thunderbolts from that 
commanding height. When his plans miscarried, he exactly 
reversed the order for the next day. Longstreet was ordered 
to begin the attack in front, while Ewell should follow with a 
charge around the other side of the curve. 

It was General Lee's intention to attack early on the 2d' 
of July. If he had done so, he would have taken the enemy 
in detail and would undoubtedly have driven him from the 1 
ridge. But it was impossible to get his troops up in time. 
The attack was made at four o'clock in the afternoon. It was 
too late. The Federals had massed their guns upon the ridge, 
supported by fifty thousand infantry. But for all that Gen- 



GETTYSBURG. 37 

eral Meade ordered his chief of staff to prepare an order for 
the retreat of his army. 

Ewell was slow to advance against the rocky sides of Culp's 
.Hill, but once in motion, the wild Confederate yell re-echoed 
.from the height as Edward Johnson's men fought their way 
.to its summit. Longstreet's hardy veterans advanced with 
steady step to the attack upon the other side. Sickles was 
driven back from the Peach Orchard. Law's Alabamians 
.passed clear over Bound Top. Wright's Georgians pushed up 
( the long slope of Cemetery Bidge, leaped fences and possessed 
the crest, capturing twenty cannon. But Longstreet was not 
, supported, and could not hold what he had gained. In the 
face of overwhelming numbers the Confederates sOowly re- 
hired and night found them on the field a little in advance of 
where they had started. 

General Lee was still confident of success. His men had 
met superior numbers behind defenses and had defeated 
|them. His artillery was in place in advantageous positions. 
The Southern army was eager for the fight. 

On the next day the advance was again delayed far beyond 
the time the commanding general had set. The sun stood at 
high noon when Alexander's guns opened the conflict. The 
icrash of that duel in which two hundred guns belched forth 
fire and shot and shell was of surpassing grandeur. After 
half an hour the fire slackened. Then Pickett, with Petti- 
grew and Trimble, ordered their men to charge. Twelve 
thousand veterans in two lines of battle struck across the 
open plain a mile wide in the face of the batteries on Ceme- 
tery Bidge. When the column was within one hundred yards 
of the stone wall, the Federal line broke. The Confederates 
sent a blazing volley into the fleeing enemy and with far- 
resounding yells rushed upon the wall, captured many prison- 
ers and silenced the guns. The carnage was fearful. Nearly 



..** THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

ever on both Bidee above the grade of captain lay 

bleeding among hundreds of fallen soldiers. But their vic- 
tory was of short duration. 

The Federals rallied with heavy reinforcements. Coming 
from the flanks they swarmed around the Southern troops, 
capturing four thousand. The attack had failed, but "Pick- 
ett's Charge" took its place in history alongside of the Charge 
of the Light Brigade at Balaklava. General Lee recognized 
that the campaign was ended and prepared to retieat. 



CHAPTER XL 

THE RETREAT AND MINE RUN. 

General Lee never appeared grander than after the loss of 
Gettysburg. As his men returned from that charge, he 
cheered them with words of encouragement. He said : "This 
has been my fault. It is I that have lost this fight, and you 
must help me out of it.'' 

A Federal soldier relates that as he lay upon the ground 
wounded, General Lee passed by on the retreat. "Hurrah 
for the LTnion !" he cried, gloating over the defeat. General 
Lee stopped his horse and turned towards him. Said he : "I 
expected him to draw his pistol and shoot me dead for in- 
sulting him. But looking on me with infinite tenderness, he 
said, 'My son, you are badly hurt. . I hope you may soon 
be well and at home with your own friends.' He almost 
broke my heart, and I did not wonder that this great man's 
soldiers would go into the jaws of death at his command." 

General Lee reformed his shattered brigades and turned 
his face again towards the South. The enemy did not pursue 
and without molestation the Army of Northern Virginh re- 
crossed the Potomac. 

The losses at Gettysburg were appalling. Meade lost 
tventy-three thousand of the ninety-five thousand who fol- 
lowed him to that field. Of fifty-eight thousand, including 
cavalry, which did not arrive till the last day, General Lee 
lost twenty thousand. Generals Armistead, Pender, Barks- 
dale, Garnett and Semmes were killed. Kemper, Pettigrew, 
Hood, Heth, Trimble, Jenkins, Anderson, Scales, Hampton 
and Fry were wounded and General Archer was taken prison- 

39 



40 T1IK CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

er. Of tin' Federals, Generals doss, Zook, Reynolds, Wil- 
lard, Weed and Farnsworth were killed. Hancock, Gibbon, 
Barlow, Panl, Stone, Stannard, Brooke, Webb and Sic 
were wounded, and General Graham was captured. 

The Confederate cause reached high water-mark at Gettys- 
burg. With the failure of Pickett's charge began the ebb of 
the tide and it soon became only a question of time when the 
end would come. 

MINE RUN. 

After the retreat from Gettysburg the Army of Northern 
Virginia rested behind the Rapidan until the following spring, 
undisturbed save by a futile advance of General Meade at 
Mine Run. 

Early on November 26th Meade attempted the sixth ad- 
vance on Richmond and crossed the Rapidan with two corps 
at Culpepper Mine, while three other corps were to seek a 
passage higher up. General Lee was well informed of his 
designs, and arrayed his men along the rough banks of Mine 
Run quite ready to receive the attack. When General Meade 
found one hundred and fifty guns waiting to greet him, he 
paused to consider further. The assault was planned for 
daylight on November 30th, but daylight revealed frowning 
breastworks so well defended that the corps commanders were 
unwilling to assault, foreseeing nothing but destruction to 
their troops. So, angry and chagrined, General Meade led 
back his men to the camps they had left so gaily. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE WILDERNESS AND SPOTTSYLVANIA. 

The Washington government decided to make still another 
change, and called General U. S. Grant from the West, where 
the capture of Vickshurg and the battle of Missionary Ridge 
had cast quit a lustre over his name, and made Mm general- 
in-chicf over all the armies of the United States. General 
Grant came to Virginia and assumed command and in May, 
18G4, began the system of hammering away continuously un- 
til he should have worn out the Southern army. It may be said 
here that this was the true policy from his standpoint. The 
North had plenty of men and plenty of resources. The South 
had no more men to take the places of those who fell, and no 
resources to draw upon to sustain those who were left. When 
Grant took a prisoner he sent him to prison. All proposals 
to exchange prisoners were rejected. He said an exchanged 
prisoner made another Southern soldier, which was true. The 
fatality of such a policy was fearful. The losses in battle and 
the. deaths in prison on both sides were enormous, and the 
responsibility of this death-rate rests upon General Grant, but 
it brought an end to the war. 

The 4th of May found General Grant with one hundred 
and twenty thousand men in arms moving against sixty-two 
thousand under General Lee. The Rapidan was crossed not 
far from Chancellorsville and the columns pushed into the 
Wilderness. Lee, fully apprised of the movements of the 
enemy, adjusted his lines to meet the advance. 

Two roads run through the Wilderness to Fredericksburg. 
Along these roads Stonewall Jackson just a twelvemonth be- 

41 



42 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

fore had attacked Hooker's rear at Chancellorsville, only five 
miles away, and from the same direction Lee, now taking the 
initiative, attacked Grant. The battle raged from noon till 
dark. Longstreet, far away at Orange Court House, is urged 
by courier after courier to hasten. At dawn the next day 
Hancock charges and breaks our line, but is held at bay. 
When the sun is well up Longstreet's first corps comes swing- 
ing down the road to the battle. General Lee meets the Texas 
brigade and calls out "What boys are these?" "Texas boys," 
is the answer. "Charge, my Texas boys!" as he advances to 
the fight. But the Texans cry out, "Go back, General Lee!" 
"General Lee to the rear ! Lee to the rear !" and a tall sol- 
dier from the ranks, catching his bridle, turns Traveler's 
head to the rear. The Texans charged with yells, but half 
the brigade fell before that terrific fire. Longstreet took Han- 
cock on the flank and rolled up his regiments "like a wet 
blanket," as Hancock himself said. 

About midday the fatal blunder which lost Stonewall Jack- 
son to the Confederacy was repeated. General Longstreet, 
in moving around the enemy, came ir. front of his own men. 
Mistaken for Federal officers, in the smoke and thick shrub- 
bery, they were fired upon. General Jenkins was killed and 
General Longstreet so seriously wounded that lie had to be 
taken from the field. Night fell with all the advantages of 
the battle with the Confederates. Morning broke upon both 
armies behind strong entrenchments, neither wishing to at- 
tack the other. 

General Grant had said that his object was to find Lee and 
whip him if he would fight. He had found him and he had 
fought, but Lee had done all the whipping. 

Spottsylvania Court House is about fifteen miles from the 
Wilderness battle-field, in the direction of Richmond. On the 
morning of May 7th, when he saw that General Grant did 



THE WILDERNEBB AND BPOTTBYLVANIA. 43 

not attack, General Lee intuitively knew that Grant would 
move to Spottsylvania. General Lee ordered a road cut 
through the forest intersecting the road to Spottsylvania, and 
at dark made a night march to that place. He made no 
mistake. Grant at the same time moved forward on the other 
road, but when the sun rose he found his alert enemy in pos- 
session of the coveted position. Lee had won the race. Oc- 
cupying the ridge he fortified himself and awaited the ad- 
vance of the foe. 

On the morning of the 10th the Federal army was hurled 
forward in an attack all along the line. The fighting was 
furious. Lead fell like hail. A tree a foot and a half 
through was cut down by the bullets. The woods were on 
fire, and the wounded who had escaped death by the guns now 
found it in the flames. 

A day of partial rest followed. At dawn on May the 12th 
in the morning mist, Hancock charged a salient, captured 
General Edward Johnson and his entire division of twenty- 
eight hundred men and twenty cannon. Disaster threatened 
the Southern army. Lane's North Carolinians and Gordon's 
Georgians came to the rescue. General Lee took his place 
to lead the division. 

"This is no place for General Lee," said Gordon, and the 
soldiers took it up, "General Lee to the rear !" until the be- 
loved leader was forced to go back. Then Gordon charged, 
and planted his colors upon the breastworks. But on the 
left Harris's Mi>sissippians and the North Carolinians under 
Eamseur and McGowan's South Carolinians fought desper- 
ately to recover the lost salient. 

All day the carnage continued.. On each side the fortifica- 
tion men grappled and dragged one another across the logs. 
They climbed up and fired into the very faces of the foe and 
dropped dead on top the breastworks. There were none to 



1 I TIIK CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

heroes. Every oilier brigade was busy with its 
own front There was no reserve. But they stood their 
ground, "without food or drink or rest, in the falling rain, in 
bloody trenches, loading and firing through the watches of 
the night." So waged the battle at the "Bloody Angle.'' 

The next morning the troops were withdrawn to a stronger 
line. 

For five days the two armies lay watching each other — then 
Grant sent twelve thousand men to storm the salient again; 
but the fire of twenty-nine guns from the new line drove 
them back before they came in range of the riflemen. An- 
other day saw Grant moving off towards Fredericksburg. He 
had lost thirty-seven thousand men in his two weeks' cam- 
paign, and had gained nothing. The Federal losses in the 
Wilderness campaign exceeded the combined casualties of all 
1li!' wars in which the Americans had ever engaged before. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

NORTH ANNA AND COLD HARBOR. 

Attempting to cross the North Anna River, General Grant 
found his watchful antagonist in his front and was driven 
back. He had crossed this river at two places, thinking to 
attack Lee in front and rear, but Lee quietly thrust himself 
between the two divisions of the Federal army in the shape of 
a wedge, the point resting upon a loop of the river. A glance 
at the map will show that General Lee had checkmated his 
opponent. Half of Grant's army was above the loop and half 
below with Lee between them, so that neither could give as- 
sistance to the other without a double crossing of the North 
Anna. 

On the morning of the 27th of May not a Federal soldier 
was to be seen. They had recrossed the river and were head- 
ing for the South. Moving further south, Grant sought to 
cross the Pamunky and seize Richmond, but he found the 
entire Confederate army athwart his path. And so foiled at 
every attempt, the first of June found him at Cold Harbor on 
the identical ground occupied by McClelland two years be- 
fore. 

For fifty-six hours, without food or rest, the veterans of 
Lee's army had marched to outstrip the enemy and occupied 
the same position at Cold Harbor which they had assaulted 
in 1862. 

Their defenses were full of salients. Cannon had been 
placed so as to cross-fire any advance of the enemy. At early 
dawn on June 3d Grant made an assault "all along the line." 
The advancing columns were enfiladed by a hundred guns, 

45 



10 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

which, without cessation, belched forth grape and shrapnel, 
while the riflemen behind the breastworks with accurate aim 
poured a leaden hail into the faces of the foe. The slaughter 
was .-imply terrific. No army on earth could live before that 
fire. The attack was over in forty minutes, but eleven thou- 
sand Federal soldiers lay stretched upon the ground dead or 
wounded. At nine o'clock General Grant ordered his gen- 
erals to renew the attack. They refused to obey the order. 

For two days the Federal wounded lay upon the field in 
the hot July sun without water or food. Their suffering was 
unspeakable. After two clays General Grant sought to relieve 
them by sending a flag of truce, but what horrors had he 
left the poor fellows to endure by that delay ! 

Desultory fighting was kept up until the night of June the 
12 th, when General Grant crossed the Chickahominy. His 
campaign had proved a disastrous failure. He had attempted 
to reach Richmond from the North, but failed, and now he 
was seeking to find an entrance from the South. In thirty 
days he had lost fifty-five thousand men ; more men than Lee's 
entire army engaged; and if all the men he lost had been 
laid head to foot in one long line, they would have reached 
from the Wilderness to Cold Harbor ! 



CHAPTER XIV. 



PETERSBURG. 



Crossing the Chickahominy General Grant moved on Pe- 
tersburg. There he was confronted by Beauregard and after 
three days' fighting, from June 15th to 18th, losing ten 
thousand more men, he settled down behind entrenchments to 
besiege the city. Both armies were protected by fortifications 
of every description and either was afraid to attack the other. 
The Federal commander sat for nine months patiently wait- 
ing for his opponent to die from natural causes. 

In the meantime in Jul)-, 1864, General Lee sent General 
Early to threaten Washington, hoping to draw off a part of 
General Grant's forces from his front. 

Early, with the gallant Gordon, crossed the Potomac and 
took the old route to Pennsylvania. Consternation reigned 
in Washington again. General Lew Wallace came out to meet 
Early, but was routed in the battle of Monocacy. On July 
11th, Early was in full view of the spires of Washington. 
Reinforcements were hurried from the field and the defenses 
of the city manned at every point. Early retired across the 
Potomac, after sending some cavalrymen to burn Chambers- 
burg in retaliation for Hunter's outrages in the valley of 
Virginia. 

For the protection of Washington General Sheridan organ- 
ized a distinct army, and with forty-eight thousand men as- 
sailed Early's twelve thousand at Winchester, driving him 
from the field. But a month later the tables were turned in 
the surprise at Cedar Creek, when General Gordon, with but 
a fourth of their number fell upon a Federal camp at day- 

47 



48 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

light. The surprise was complete. The startled Federals 
left artillery, baggage, arms, clothing, and canteens — every- 
thing — and fled, rushing madly towards Winchester. Xo 
such rout had been seen since Bull Run. The camp was full 
of valuable booty. The hungry, ragged Confederates, instead 
of following up their victory, stopped to plunder the camp — 
and who can condemn them for it? Their necessity was 
their excuse. 

Sheridan met his fugitives near Newtown, rallied them, 
and facing them about, returned to the attack. The Confed- 
erates, taken unprepared, retired, but with the loss of the 
brave Eamseur. 

To return to Petersburg. A fearful incident of the siege 
was the explosion of the Crater. From the point on the Con- 
federate lines known as Elliot's Salient, the Federal rifle-pits 
were only one hundred yards distant. Miners were put to 
work to dig a tunnel under this salient, excavating on either 
side and filling it with eight thousand pounds of powder. 
Grant's plan was immediately after the explosion to send 
half his army right through, capture Petersburg and strike 
Lee's army in the rear. 

The mine was exploded and a crater thirty feet deep, thirty- 
five feet long and ninety-seven feet wide gaped wide open. 
A whole brigade of South Carolinians was blown into the 
air, with muskets, pieces of gun carriages and debris of every 
kind, and two hundred and fifty-six were buried by the ex- 
plosion. A brigade of negro soldiers from the Federal lines 
was sent forward, but stopped in the Crater. The Confeder- 
ates rallied and turned their guns upon them. Another brig- 
ade of Federals was sent in. Then cannister and minie-balls 
carried destruction into the pit of death. Caught like rats in 
a trap, they "found the humor of the breach too hot/' The 
poor wretches could neither get out nor go back, and it was 



PETERSBURG. 49 

death to remain. And so that July day passed with dreadful 
suffering and the Federal roll was diminished four thousand 
by the experiment of the Crater. 

In the month of August General Hancock with two divi- 
sions established himself at Ream's Station on the Weldon 
Railroad aud began to tear up the tracks. A. P. Hill with 
Hampton's cavalry fell upon him first with artillery then 
with infantry, followed by a charge. The victory was com- 
plete. Hancock, who had never seen his men driven like 
that, with deep mortification said, "I do not care to die, but I 
pray God I may never leave this field." Nine guns, twelve 
stand of colors and twenty-one hundred and fifty prisoners 
were the spoils of the Confederates. In this and other at- 
tacks on the Weldon Railroad the Federals confessed to a loss 
of seven thousand men. 



CHAPTER XV. 

APPOMATTOX. 

The fall and winter dragged their slow length along. The 
Army of Northern Virginia was getting more ragged and more 
emaciated every day. Thousands were without socks or shoes 
and the best clothes they had were those captured from the 
enemy. 

But these ragged veterans were inured to hardships. Be- 
fore the battle of Fredericksburg, more than three thousand 
of them began the winter without a blanket, and but half 
clothed. In April their daily ration was a little corn and 
a quarter of a pound of bacon ; and General Lee issued orders 
to them to gather a supply of sassafras buds, wild onions, and 
poke sprouts to supplement their scanty fare. The campaign 
of Sharpsburg was fought on rations of apples and green corn. 
From Hanover Junction to Cold Harbor but two rations were 
issued; one contained three hard biscuits and a small slice of 
pork ; two days later each man received one cracker ! What 
wonder that an Irishman, badly wounded on the field, called 
to his comrades, "Charge them, boys ! They've got chase in 
their haversacks !" 

But no word of complaint fell from the bloodless lips of 
these heroes. Cheerfully they endured all these hardships, 
and responded with alacrity to every call that was made on 
them. There were no recruits. Privation and disease and 
the enemy's sharpshooters depleted their ranks until, as 
General Lee said, the line had stretched until it was about lo 
break. 

About the middle of March, 1865, the forces of Early in 

50 



APPOMATTOX. 51 

the valley having been scattered, and present apprehension 
of the safety of Washington from that quarter having been 
removed, General Sheridan marched with ten thousand cav- 
alry to swell the total of Grant's army before Petersburg to 
one hundred and eleven thousand. 

On the 27th General Grant started his move around the 
right of the Confederate army. General Lee, fully aware of 
his purpose, moved to the right to confront him. At Five 
Forks, with a boldness that bordered upon rashness, Lee at- 
tacked and drove Sheridan back. 

Eallying on the morrow with reinforcements, Sheridan as- 
saulted Pickett, but with poor success until he gained his 
flank and rear. Then, realizing that the battle was lost, it 
became with the Confederates sauve qui pent. Following the 
success at Five Forks, on April 1st a general assault upon 
Petersburg was ordered. The Confederate line was stretched 
to the utmost and before the pressure of overwhelming num- 
bers it gave way, now here, now there, but not without deliv- 
ering a final blow in return. 

Petersburg was evacuated and in its last defense Lieutenant 
General A. P. Hill was killed. He was a gallant soldier. 
His name was the last upon the lips of the South's greatest 
generals. Stonewall Jackson, in his delirium, cried, "A. P. 
Hill, prepare for action!" General Lee, just before he ex- 
pired, exclaimed, "Tell Hill he must come up !" 

Kichmond was evacuated. Lee retired with his famished 
soldiers towards Lynchburg, expecting supply trains to meet 
him. Alas ! they had been captured and destroj^ed. Ewell's 
Corps, now depleted to three thousand men, was surrounded 
at Sailors' Creek and made prisoners. Longstreet and Gor- 
don had crossed the Appomattox, but it was apparent that 
the end was near. 



52 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

So, in the interests of humanity, on the 9th day of April, 
1865, at Appomattox Court House, with twenty-eight thou- 
sand men of all arms, who for nine long months had held at 
bay one hundred thousand, Robert E. Lee surrendered the 
ragged remnants of the finest army the world ever saw. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE WESTERN CAMPAIGNS. 

In passing from the operations in Virginia to those in the 
West, it is appropriate to say a word in behalf of the Western 
Army. Comparisons between the Army of Northern Virginia 
and the Army of Tennessee have often been made to the dis- 
paragement of the latter. The soldier in one was as good as 
in the other. In each there were Alabamians and Carolin- 
ians ; troops from all the States were in both armies ; all were 
Southerners. But it must be remembered there was but one 
General Lee. The world does not produce two such men in 
the same generation. The division commanders in one were 
not superior to those in the other. Virginia had her Stuart, 
Tennessee her Forrest. Jackson was no braver than Polk, 
nor Gordon more gallant than Cleburne. If Hill and Hoke 
and McLaws knew no fear of the enemy, neither did Cheatham 
nor Hardee nor Van Dorn. In Virginia the Federal army had 
but two objects, the capture of Eichmond and the protection 
of Washington. In the West an army quite as numerous and 
as well equipped had no capital in its rear to guard, but sought 
to overrun the whole country. 

Nor was it until they had concentrated at Chattanooga that 
the two opposing armies employed their full strength against 
each other. 

Like the Federals in Virginia, the Confederates in Tennes- 
see suffered from too many commanders. The prejudices of 
the administration retained too long chiefs who were ineffi- 
cient, and hampered those of approved ability. But none 

53 



64 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

suffered hardships more uncomplainingly, none fought the 
enemy more fiercely, and none served his country more cheer- 
fully than the soldier of the Army of Tennessee. 

The Western campaigns designated by the names of the 
principal battles in each will be known as Shiloh, Perryville, 
Murfreesboro, Vicksburg, Chickamauga, Atlanta and Frank- 
lin. 

In September, 1861, General Albert Sidney Johnston was 
assigned to the command of the Department of the West. He 
immediately determined to seize Bowling Green, Ky., and, 
sending General Buckner there with five thousand men, he 
himself followed and made it his headquarters. At the 
same time a Confederate force, under General Leonidas Polk, 
was occupying Columbus, Ky., on the Mississippi Eiver. A 
part of this force had been sent across the river in command 
of General Pillow, and was in camp at Belmont, Mo. 

General TJ. S. Grant, then unknown to fame, was at Pa- 
ducah, Ky. He moved down the river and attacked the Con- 
federates, driving in the advance and capturing the camp ; but 
General Polk sent reinforcements, the Federals were re- 
pulsed and routed, and General Grant scored his first defeat. 

FORTS HENRY AND DONELSON. 

The Tennessee Eiver was defended by a garrison at Fort 
Henry, and the Cumberland River was protected by Fort 
Donelson. The two were about twelve miles apart across the 
ridge dividing the rivers. 

Finding the defenses at Columbus too strong to attack, in 
February, 1862, a fleet of gunboats moved upon Fort Henry. 
After a furious bombardment the guns of the fort were dis- 
abled. General Grant was advancing with twenty-five thou- 
sand men. Seeing it was impossible to hold the fort, Gen- 
eral Tilghman sent the garrison across to Fort Donelson, re- 



THE WESTERN CAMPAIGNS. 55 

taming seventy-eight men to serve the guns until they were 
safely away, and then surrendered Fort Henry to Admiral 
Foote. 

Fort Donelson was then invested on the land side by Gen- 
eral Grant, while the gunboats supported him on the river. 
Seventeen thousand Confederate troops had been gathered at 
that point under Generals Floyd, Pillow, and Buckner. Ke- 
inforcements brought the Federal army up to twenty-seven 
thousand men, who attacked on every side. The assault lasted 
three days, when, finding their condition desperate, General 
Floyd turned over the command to Pillow, and escaped in the 
boats with a brigade of Virginians. Pillow in turn passed 
the command to Buckner and escaped. General Buckner 
said he would stay by his men and share their fate. Forrest 
swore he would not surrender, and, assembling his men 
plunged into the icy water and was next heard of at Nash- 
ville. Then General Buckner entered into negotiations with 
General Grant and surrendered with nine thousand troops. 

The commanding general incurred severe censure for the 
fall of Donelson, and deputations of citizens from Tennes- 
see went to the President to demand his removal. But Mr. 
Davis said, "If Sidney Johnston is not a general, then I have 
none.'' 

The fall of Fort Donelson was a disaster from which the 
Army of the West never recovered. There is no doubt that 
the entire garrison might have escaped had General Floyd 
heeded Forrest's advice. Their capture was due partly to the 
situation not being defensible from a land side attack, but 
chiefly to the refusal of General Floyd to fight his way out. 

The surrender of Fort Donelson left the Cumberland Eiver 
open to Nashville. The Tennessee Eiver was open to North 
Alabama. So General Johnston withdrew from Bowling 
Green, Columbus and Nashville were evacuated and the army 



56 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

fell back to Corinth, Miss., with the intention of protecting 
the Mississippi Valley. Here they were joined by General 
Bragg with ten thousand men from Pensacola and by Beaure- 
gard with seven thousand from Memphis, bringing the aggre- 
gate of the Army of Tennessee up to forty thousand men. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

SHILOH. 

Early in April, 1862, General Grant assembled his forces 
at Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River and awaited 
the arrival of Buell, who was marching overland from Nash- 
ville. Sidney Johnston with the divisions of Polk, Bragg, 
Hardee and Breckenridge, marched from Corinth to attack 
him, with Beauregard second in command. 

At daylight on April the 6th the Confederates struck the 
enemy's outposts and the battle was begun. With thirty-nine 
thousand men, they attacked forty-nine thousand in a posi- 
tion of their own choosing. The attack was a surprise. Grant 
said, "I did not believe Beauregard was such a fool as to 
leave his base of operations and attack us in ours." 

Hindman's Mississippians found Prentiss's men in camp 
eating their breakfast and captured a whole brigade. The 
Federal flanks were turned and driven in pell-mell. 

At one point they massed their troops and the desperate 
fighting over the position gave it the name of the "Hornet's 
Nest." Here behind a dense thicket on the crest of a hill, 
protected by defenses of logs and brush, the flower of Grant's 
army was gathered. As at Fredericksburg, an open field must 
be crossed to assail it. For five hours brigade after brigade 
braved the deadly peril of the assault. Hindman's division 
was reduced to fragments; A. P. Stewart's regiments were 
decimated; Gibbon's Louisianians had suffered a bloody re- 
pulse ; and Cheatham and Breckenridge had moved up. Then 
Sidney Johnston cried, "Men, we must give them the bayonet ! 

57 



58 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

I will lead you/' and the line charged with a mighty yell. A 
sheet of flame from the Federal guns poured destruction into 
their midst. The line withered, but there was no pause. 
The crest was gained, the position taken and the enemy was 
in flight. 

At six o'clock the Federals had been driven back to the 
river. The victorious Confederates had possessed all of his 
encampments but one, nearly all his field artillery, thirty flags, 
three thousand prisoners and thousands of small arms and 
munitions of war. 

At this juncture nothing was needed to complete the anni- 
hilation of the Federal army but to vigorously follow up the 
victory. This was the situation: Grant's army had been 
driven back from their positions into a corner with the Ten- 
nessee River on one side, a creek and a swamp on the other, 
and the victorious Confederates in front. They could not 
cross the river, the swamp was impassable, and the Confed- 
erates irresistible. They were indeed "betwixt the devil 
and the deep sea.'' But alas ! General Johnston had been 
shot by a minie-ball as he sat on his horse. The artery in 
his leg was cut, and because no one was near to stop the bleed- 
ing he quickly bled to death. 

The command devolved upon General Beauregard. Beaure- 
gard was sick, lying upon an ambulance cot in the rear. He 
had not approved of the attack in the morning, thinking too 
much time had been lost. Without perhaps appreciating the 
state of the battle he gave orders to withdraw the troops. 
Fatal blunder ! to snatch from his army the fruits of their 
victory just as they were about to pluck them. The army 
fell back and Grant was saved from ruin. 

There can be no doubt that if Sidney Johnston had lived 
through the day, the entire Federal army would have been 
captured and destroyed, and General Grant, in all probability, 



8HIL0H. 59 

would never have been heard of again. But, as Touchstone 
says, "There's much virtue in if." 

That night General Buell crossed the river and reinforced 
the Federals with twenty-two thousand fresh men, and the 
next day Beauregard retreated to Corinth. The Federals fol- 
lowed with an army of eighty thousand, so slowly that it was 
not until a month after the battle of Shiloh that they appeared 
before the lines at Corinth. Then unwilling to hazard an 
attack, Beauregard retreated further south, to Tupelo, Miss., 
and, being too ill to attend to the duties of the position, he 
transferred the command to General Bragg. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



NEW ORLEANS. 



In the meantime New Orleans had fallen. Admiral Far- 
ragut, with a powerful fleet of ironclads, had passed the pro- 
tecting forts below, and demanded the surrender of the city, 
which the Confederate troops had evacuated to prevent its 
bombardment. The infamous Benjamin F. Butler was placed 
in command of the city and began a terrorized reign of pillage 
and insult which gained for him the well-deserved soubri- 
quets of "Spoons" and "Beast," and caused President Davis 
to set a price upon his head as a common outlaw. 

The Mississippi River was now completely in possession of 
the enemy, except from Vicksburg to Port Hudson, a dis- 
tance of sixty miles, which formed the connecting link between 
the East and the West. At Vicksburg strong defenses under 
the command of General Martin L. Smith, blocked the pass- 
age of the river. 

THE KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN. 

In July, 1862, Kirby Smith, with twelve thousand Confed- 
erates, held East Tennessee. General Bragg was at Tupelo, 
Miss., with forty-five thousand. Buell started off from near 
Corinth with thirt} r -thousand men for North Alabama, which 
was undefended. 

It was evident that some new move must be made, and it 
resulted in what was called the Kentucky campaign. 

General Forrest, that brilliant cavalryman, who was said 
to have been the only military genius that the war produced, 
and the greatest cavalry leader of history, and John H. Mor- 

60 



NEW ORLEANS. 61 

gan, the daring partisan, were sent into Middle Tennessee and 
Kentucky, and by their restless activity claimed the attention 
of the Federals in that section. While General Wheeler in 
the rear of the enemy at Corinth was keeping them busy 
with his cavalry, Bragg transferred his army from Tupelo to 
Chattanooga, leaving Generals Price and Van Dorn to con- 
front Grant at Corinth. 

Kirby Smith advanced into Kentucky, met the enemy under 
Nelson at Richmond, defeated him, captured six thousand 
men, nine guns and all of his wagon-trains, and marched into 
Lexington. A brigade of cavalry was sent on to Louisville, 
and Harry Heth's division marched north to Covington just 
across the river from Cincinnati. Bragg was still at Chatta- 
nooga with twenty-eight thousand men ; Buell with fifty thou- 
sand was at Murfreesboro. 

After the battle of Richmond, Buell and Bragg both raced 
for Louisville ; Buell via Nashville and Bowling Green, Bragg 
by a road to the east. The people of Louisville were wild with 
excitement, the Southern sympathizers eagerly looking for 
the Confederates, the Unionists removing their valuables 
across the river for safety. 

On September 17th, while Lee was repelling the bloody 
assaults of McClelland at Sharpsburg, Bragg engaged a part 
of Buell's army at Munfordsville, Ky. Bragg captured a 
garrison of four thousand prisoners, but his advance was ar- 
rested and Buell won the race to Louisville. 

Like Lee in Maryland, General Bragg was disappointed in 
gaining recruits in Kentucky. When he saw the comfort that 
was on every side he said, "These people have too many fat 
cattle and are too well off to fight." There were many South- 
ern sympathizers in that State, but as many more who sided 
with the North. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



PERRYVILLE. 



General Buell moved from Louisville on October 1st with 
large reinforcements to meet Bragg and attacked him at Per- 
ryville on the 8th. Enfilading the enemy with his artillery 
and pouring a blinding fire with his infantry, Bragg dealt 
such destruction in the Federal ranks that regiment after 
regiment gave way before his determined onset. During 
the battle our troops advanced about a mile, holding their 
ground and capturing prisoners, guns and colors. But the 
losses were not all with the Federals. While they lost four 
thousand we lost thirty-four hundred, and in the Forty-first 
Georgia Regiment alone seven color-bearers were successively 
shot down. 

The Confederates were at every point victorious and night 
fell with the battle-field entirely within our lines. But it 
would have been folly for Bragg with fifteen thousand ex- 
hausted men with no base of supplies to await a second at- 
tack by fifty thousand, half of whom were fresh troops ; so he 
wisely withdrew to Harrodsburg. 

Two uays elapsed and no forward movement was made by 
the Federals. Bragg prepared to retreat to Murfreesboro. 
The retreat was accomplished safely, but with many difficul- 
ties. 

The Kentucky campaign had not been a failure. The Fed- 
erals had lost in killed, wounded and prisoners twenty-six 
thousand men. We had taken thirty-five cannon, sixteen 

62 



PERRYVILLE. 63 

thousand rifles, thirty-seven thousand mules and horses, and 
had redeemed Middle Tennessee and North Alabama. 

Buell was removed for not destroying Bragg, and Bragg 
was censured for not destroying Buell. In Tennessee Buell 
was succeeded by General Eosecrans. Bragg's army was 
weakened by President Davis peremptorily ordering him to 
send eight thousand men to reinforce Pemberton in Missis- 
sippi. 

MURFREESRORO. 

New Year's day found the Confederates at Murfreesboro, 
Tenn., with Eosecrans in their front a mile and a half away. 
In this situation the gallant General Wheeler with three 
thousand cavalry made a complete tour of Eosecrans' army, 
capturing eleven hundred men and destroying millions of 
dollars worth of property, leaving in his wake all the debris 
of a captured wagon- train and returning on the second day 
with supplies enough to arm a brigade. 

Bragg resolved to attack the enemy in his position. On 
December 30th the Confederates moved out of Murfreesboro 
and crossed Stone's Eiver. The Federals had encamped 
across the Nashville road with one flank resting on the river's 
bend. At early dawn General Hardee, with characteristic 
promptness, advanced to the attack and found the enemy 
cooking their breakfast. But though surprised they soon 
rallied and a desperate fight ensued. Sweeping on like a 
resistless tide the Confederates drove everything before them. 
A thousand Federals fell in a few minutes. Then Cleburne 
came rushing over fences and through thickets with the fury 
of a tornado, and Cheatham followed with his brave Tennes- 
seeans, pressing back the enemy at every point. Their line 
was doubled back upon itself by the irresistible fury of the 
Confederates like the shutting of a knife-blade. 



64 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

But the flower of the Western army under one of their most 
skillful leaders did not yield without a stubborn fight. The 
repulse and the rally followed in regular succession and blood 
flowed everywhere. The Federal Generals Sill and Kirk were 
killed, General Van Cleve badly wounded and General Wil- 
lich was captured. Field officers and privates lay in piles 
upon the ground. Night fell upon the scene and the battle 
ended, leaving us masters of the field. 

The next day the Federals entrenched and both armies 
rested. Again Bragg attacked, taking the position they had 
occupied, but as his victorious soldiers continued the charge 
far beyond their support, they were met by a galling fire from 
the reserve Federal artillery and two thousand fell upon the 
field. Another day passed without fighting and the battle of 
Murfreesboro proved another fruitless victory, for the Con- 
federates fell back to Tullahoma and thence to Chattanooga. 
The losses at Murfreesboro were fearful. Out of thirty-five 
thousand men engaged, Bragg 1 lost over ten thousand. Of 
forty-six thousand Federals, twelve thousand seven hundred 
were lost, of whom thirty-five hundred were taken prisoners. 



CHAPTER XX. 

VICKSBUEG. 

In the meantime, on the 3d and 4th of October, a fierce 
assault was made upon the Federal lines at Corinth, by Van 
Dorn with twenty thousand men. General Eosecrans, who 
had not then relieved Buell, commanded the Union army 
with signal ability, and testified to the desperate fighting 
of the Confederates, which excited his warmest admiration. 
But the attack failed of its object. Corinth remained in the 
Union lines. But General Van Dorn redeemed the defeat 
of Corinth by a brilliant move in which, with three thousand 
cavalry, he destroyed Grant's whole depot of supplies at Holly 
Springs, to the value of $1,000,000, and captured two thou- 
sand prisoners and six thousand muskets, compelling Grant 
to fall back to Corinth. 

The closing of the year 1862 found General Sherman pre- 
paring to assail Chickasaw Bluffs, which was held by General 
Stephen D. Lee. The position had been made almost impreg- 
nable by that distinguished engineer officer, General Martin 
L. Smith, but Sherman said when he ordered the attack: 
"We have got to lose five thousand men before we take Vicks- 
burg, and we may as well lose them here as anywhere." Ten 
minutes after the assault was made he had lost eighteen hun- 
dred men, when his subordinates assured him there was no 
possibility of success. 

General Sherman refused to send a flag of truce asking for 
the removal of his dead and wounded because, he said, it 
looked like a confession of defeat. His example was followed 
for the same reason by General Grant at Cold Harbor. 

65 



66 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

By the following May, General Grant had by a circuitous 
route placed his army in the rear of Yicksburg, with gunboats 
above and below on the river. The city was completely in- 
vested and the siege begun. The Confederate forces, number- 
ing thirty thousand, were commanded by General Pemberton. 

The bombardment of the city was incessant, and women 
and children were compelled to take refuge in caves dug in 
the hillsides. Every morning and afternoon when the regu- 
lar shelling began, they would go to their caves, returning to 
find perhaps that an intruder had been in the home, and the 
parlor or it may be the sleeping-room, completely demolished. 
One night a solid shot entered a room in which two children 
were sleeping, passed through the bureau, struck the bed, 
tearing out the footposts, and passed out of the house. The 
bed dropped to the floor, but the children were unharmed. 

Desperate assaults upon the works were made by the Fed- 
erals, in which they suffered great loss. Food became scarce. 
Communication with the outer world was cut off, and no sup- 
plies came to the relief of the beleaguered city. Mule meat 
became a substitute for beef, and rats were esteemed a choice 
delicacy. Finally as one of the soldiers said, they had peas 
for breakfast, water for dinner and swelled up for supper. 
Forty-seven days the siege lasted until human endurance had 
reached its limit. Every soldier was needed to man the de- 
fenses ; no relief could be given any portion for a single hour. 
Confined within the narrow limits of the trenches night and 
day, exposed to sun and shot and shell, with limbs cramped 
and swollen, without food, nothing remained but capitulation ; 
and on July 4th, as Lee was retreating from Gettysburg, 
Vicksburg surrendered to General Grant. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

CHICKAMAUGA. 

Since Bragg's retreat to Chattanooga, both armies in Ten- 
nessee had lain inactive. Some daring cavalry raids had oc- 
curred, and General Forrest had distinguished himself by 
some important captures. 

In August, 1863, Rosecrans began to move from Bridge- 
port, Ala., with the intention of crossing the Tennessee River 
and striking Bragg in the rear. His design was discovered 
and Bragg fell back to Chickamauga, leaving Chattanooga in 
the enemy's hands. While Rosecrans was gathering his 
forces, General Bragg had the opportunity to strike him in 
detail and utterly defeat him, which General Lee or Stonewall 
Jackson would have been quick to do. But the opportunity 
was neglected, and the Federals took position after concentrat- 
ing their brigades. 

On September the 19th the great battle of Chickamauga 
was joined. Fierce fighting all day long gave the advantage 
to the Confederates. That night Longstreet, who, with his 
hardy veterans, had been detached from Lee's army, arrived 
with welcome reinforcements. 

The crisp September morning had hardly broke when the 
contest was renewed. The fighting was sanguinary and 
determined. Hillside and mountain re-echoed with the roar 
of artillery and everv crest was lighted with a sheet of 
flame. As the sun rose hi eh the heat became intense and 
thirst added its horrors to those of war. A pool of water in 
which lay men and horses shot to death was the coveted prize 

67 



68 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

over which the living fought. All day the conflict waged over 
hill and dale till night closed upon the scene. 

Rosccrans' headquarters were captured and his army was 
swept from the field. On right and left every position had 
been abandoned. But one was held. 

On a bold spur of the ridge George H. Thomas, a native 
Virginian, had placed one of his brigades. Protected on one 
side by a precipitous wall and strengthened by heavy log 
breastworks, these brave defenders of a defeated army held 
their position hour after hour. Regiments and brigades and 
divisions of the flower of the Confederate troops dashed 
against this improvised fortress and were cut to pieces by its 
well-aimed fire. But the final assault of the day drove the 
enemy from their stronghold, and as the darkness hid them 
from view they retreated beyond the ridge. 

But for the firm stand made by the gallant Thomas, the 
rout of the Federals would have been complete. He saved 
their army from destruction, and gained for that day's work 
the name of "Rock of Chickamauga." 

During the night and all the next day, Rosccrans' troops, 
disorganized and defeated, were hurrying to the rear. The 
roads were filled with artillery mixed with wagon-trains, and 
all was confusion and disorder. 

Forrest was quick to perceive it and urged General Bragg 
to push the pursuit, saying "that every hour was worth a 
thousand men." But General Bragg seemed not to know that 
he had gained a victory. Instead of striking the fleeing Fed- 
erals and taking Chattanooga, the objective point of the 
campaign, which their defeated commander was preparing to 
evacuate, the day was spent in gathering the spoils of battle. 
Rosecrans was given time to breathe. He strengthened his 
defenses, he rallied his men, he reorganized his brigades and 
held his ground. 



OHICKAMAUGA. 69 

The battle of Chickamauga was another barren victory. 
Though the Confederates, forty-seven thousand strong, de- 
feated sixty-four thousand Federals, and though they cap- 
tured eight thousand prisoners, fifty-one cannon, fifteen thou- 
sand stand of small arms and vast quantities of stores, the 
point for which the battle was fought was not gained, simply 
because the commanding general did not choose to take it. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

MISSIONARY RIDGE. 

In October, 18G3, General Grant was placed in command of 
the army at Chattanooga. On November 4th, Longstreet was 
detached from Bragg to look after Burnside at Knoxville, and 
proceeded thence to join General Lee in Virginia. Sherman 
had come to reinforce Grant, bringing the aggregate of his 
army up to sixty thousand men. 

Since the battle of Chickamauga Bragg was occupying 
Missionary Ridge, which rises a few miles back of Chatta- 
nooga, and was confident of starving out Rosecrans and march- 
ing into Chattanooga at his pleasure. Indeed Rosecrans 
was seriously contemplating retreat; but General Grant pur- 
sued a vigorous policy which resulted in a fierce attack on 
our lines. 

General Hooker crossed Lookout Mountain and struck 
Bragg's flank and the battle of Missionary Ridge followed. 
It proved a disaster to our arms, relieving Chattanooga, and 
confirmed the Union army in its possession of all the country 
north of Tunnel Hill. The so-called "Battle of the Clouds" 
General Grant himself said was a romance of the war. There 
was no "battle" of Lookout Mountain. General Hooker, 
with eight thousand men crossed the river and drove in a 
picket force of twelve hundred Confederates, and the rest is 
all poetry. 

Northern writers have had much to say of the battle of 
Missionary Ridge and a great cyclorama of the scene has 
been exhibited. It was a stampede of our army confronted 

70 



MISSIONARY RIDGE. 71 

by twice their number on the report that Hooker was in their 
rear. But it was none the less a victory for the Federals and 
none the less a disaster to our cause. 

The general dissatisfaction with General Bragg, his un- 
popularity with bis soldiers, and his unfriendly relations with 
some of his most prominent generals impelled the President 
to remove him. General Joseph E. Johnston was appointed 
to succeed him. 

KNOXVILLE. 

In the meantime Longstreet with ten thousand men had 
marched to Knoxville to keep Burnside in check. The trip 
was a rough one, but the men bore it well. Burnside was 
found at Loudon with twelve thousand troops, and a running 
skirmish ensued for thirty miles, Longstreet trying to bring 
Burnside to a fight and Burnside trying to reach the defenses 
of Knoxville. At Lenoir's and Campbell's, sharp skirmishes 
wore fought with no result of value, for Burnside reached his 
goal and Longstreet beseiged it. 

At Knoxville the Federals held a line of breastworks under 
the command of General Sanders. They were assaulted by 
Kershaw's brigade of South Carolinians and carried by storm. 
General Sanders was killed. He was a Mississippian by birth, 
a gallant soldier, and at West Point was an intimate friend 
of General E. P. Alexander, who commanded the artillery in 
this fight — another instance of friends meeting in deadly com- 
bat. 

A week later General Longstreet prepared to attack a 
strongly fortified point, which, in honor of the gallant dead, 
had been named Fort Sanders. The charge was ordered to 
be made at dawn by the infantry alone, and Wofford's Geor- 
gians with Humphries 5 Mississippians were designated to 
lead it. With Anderson's Georgia brigade, they lay all night 



72 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

upon their arms in open field without fires, suffering greatly. 
The night was dark and mist)', the temperature freezing. 
At daylight the signal gun was fired, and up they sprang and 
forward for the charge. They advanced to the rifle-pits and 
swarmed over them to he met by a withering fire of grape and 
cannister, and were driven back into the pits. Reinforce- 
ments were ordered forward, but a staff officer reported that 
the ground was covered with wires stretched from stump to 
stump and could not be passed; so the troops were recalled. 
The report was not true, but the repulse ended the attack. Our 
loss was severe, the colonel of every regiment engaged being 
killed. The news of Bragg's defeat at Missionary Eidge put 
an end to the siege of Knoxville. Longstreet spent the win- 
ter in East Tennessee, returning to Virginia in April, just 
in time to take part in the great battle of the Wilderness. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. 

General Johnston's command of the Army of Tennessee is 
a story of retreat before overwhelming numbers — a retreat 
unsurpassed in the history of wars for skillful manoeuvering 
and dogged resistance; a retreat wherein not a wagon was 
lost nor a position taken by direct attack ; in which forty-three 
thousand men fell back before the continuous assaults of nine- 
ty-eight thousand; a retreat which has been pronounced one 
of the most brilliant movements in the history of warfare. 

From Dalton to Atlanta, from May 6th to September 2d, 
1864, there was a succession of battles, ranging in importance 
from skirmishes to general engagements. While Grant and 
Lee were grappling in the smoke of the Wilderness, Sherman 
was butting against Rocky Face and closing in on Johnston at 
Resaca. While Grant, out-generaled, was recrossing the 
North Anna, Sherman was being beaten back from the rude 
defenses of New Hope Church. At Resaca, New Hope, Big 
Shanty, Culp's Farm, Kennesaw Mountain, Peachtree Creek, 
and Atlanta, the same story of attack and repulse and retreat 
to fortified lines must be told. At New Hope the 'Confeder- 
ates fought so valiantly that Sherman named it "Hell's Hole." 

For seven days continuous assaults were made upon the 
Confederates at Kennesaw, and one hundred and forty can- 
non bombarded their position. At nine o'clock on June 27th 
a general assault was made. The enemy were permitted to 
come within twenty paces of the Confederate works before a 

73 



74 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

gun was fired. Then a deadly fire was opened upon them, 
prostrating whole columns. In front of Cleburne's division, 
three thousand dead wire laid out that fatal morning. The 
Federals protected themselves behind parapets and their dead 
lay unburicd for two days upon the mountain-side. 

And so as Johnston would choose a position and entrench, 
the enemy would close around him and force him to retire 
to a new entrenchment, until it was trulv said of his men 
that they digged all night and fought all day. 

But the continued retreat gave dissatisfaction, though 
Johnston lost but ten thousand men, while Sherman lost 
forty thousand. The people complained, and the Adminis- 
tration at Richmond was displeased. President Davis said 
he wanted a general who would fight. As General John B. 
Hood had made a reputation as a fighter, he was appointed on 
June 18th to supersede General Johnston. 

No doubt General Polk would have succeeded in command 
had he lived. But only a few days before, Generals Johnston, 
Hardee and Polk had ridden to the top of Pine Mountain to 
reconnoitre the ground, when a Federal battery opened fire 
on them. One ball passed through General Polk from side 
to side, killing him instantly. In his death the Confederacy 
lost one of its purest and ablest generals, a soldier of un- 
flinching courage and of conspicuous ability. 

General Hood had been crippled in his arm at Gettysburg 
and had lost a leg at Chickamauga, but in spite of that he 
was a splendid horseman. As he was put at the head of the 
army to fight, and there was nothing he liked better, he threw 
to the winds the tactics whicli Johnston had employed. On 
July 20th he fought the battle of Peachtree Creek. One wing 
of the Federal army had crossed the creek about five miles 
north of Atlanta, while the other was at Decatur. General 
Hood determined to attack the divided wings. Down the 



THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. 75 

Peachtree slope rushed Stewart's men, charging and firing, 
and drove the enemy back, holding his works until enfiladed 
by his artillery ; then slowly retiring, took position on the hill. 

Meanwhile the position of the other wing at Decatur being 
known, Hardee was sent to make a night march around his 
flank. Moving to the south he took position to attack and 
rested his men a little. Then with the suddenness of a 
cyclone these men in grey fell upon tiie Federal host. But 
the attack was bravely met. Their artillery poured an iron 
rain upon the Confederate columns, but they never wavered. 
With colors flying and steady tread they closed the gaps as 
the wounded fell and on they went. They swarmed over a 
battery and captured it, turning the guns upon their late 
owners. They drove the infantry back, capturing their en- 
trenchments. Nothing could exceed the gallantry of their 
advance. A Federal soldier said, "The battle of Atlanta was 
a warfare of giants. In the impetuosity and the splendid 
abandon and reckless disregard of danger with which the 
rebel masses rushed against our lines of iron and cold steel, 
there had been no parallel during the war." 

.But of what avail? Gathering their brigades from eUher 
side the Federals pressed back their brave assailants with over- 
whelming numbers, recapturing their works and their battery 
and did not feel the loss of their dead and captured. Yes, in 
the death of General McPherson, who was killed in what is 
now Grant Park, the Union army lost one of its most con- 
spicuous officers, and the Confederates suffered no less in the 
death of that gallant Georgian, General W. H. T. Walker. 

Though he captured many guns and colors, General Hood 
withdrew within the fortifications of Atlanta. A week later 
he sallied forth and attacked at Ezra Church and was forced 
again to withdraw. 

Then began the siege of Atlanta. Sherman, with increased 



76 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

forces, advanced little by little, digging entrenchments rs he 
went, and throwing up breastworks as he closed in slowly but 
surely upon the city. The lines were near together, and the 
sharpshooters did deadly work on both sides. The city was 
bombarded from July 9th to August 25th. Women and chil- 
dren took refuge in cellars from the storm of shells. The 
Federals swung around to Jonesboro and were met by Hardee, 
with the usual result. Then all his railroad communications 
being cut, General Hood abandoned Atlanta, united with 
Hardee and fought at Lovejoy's Station. Sherman entered 
the city on September 2, 1864. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



FRANKLIN AND NASHVILLE. 



After a month's rest, General Hood marched northward to 
cut Sherman's communications, and, if possible, reach Ken- 
tucky. Sherman followed with a part of his army. Hood 
attacked but failed to take Allatoona; he cut the railroad, 
captured Dalton, marched to Gadsden and by a sories of dar- 
ing adventures, baffled Sherman so that he did not know 
where next to expect him. Tiie winter came oq, but he gave 
his men no rest. In bitter cold weather he advanced in light 
marching order, to Franklin, Tenn. 

In the meantime Sherman had sent Generals Thomas and 
Schofield to Nashville, while he himself returned to Atlanta. 
At Franklin, General Hood overtook Schofield, who was hast- 
ening to join. Thomas at Nashville, and attacked him on jVo- 
vember 30th. From -A till 9 p. m. the conflict raged and 
proved one of the fiercest fights of the war. 

Some doubt had been felt as to how the Confederates would 
behave after so long a series of retreats, but the battle of 
Franklin proved that the same undaunted. spirit and reckless 
daring as of old animated them when facing the enemy in a 
fair field. Beth general officers and privates fought with the 
madness of despair. The Federals threw up entrenchments 
just on the edge of the town and here the fighting was terrific. 
Like the conflict at the "Bloody Angle" at Spottsylvania, men 
engaged in a hand-to-hand struggle, and after firing a1 close 
quarters grappled in the endeavor to drag each other over 
the breastworks. 

77 



78 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

When night ended the battle the Federals retreated to 
Nashville, leaving their dead and wounded on the field. We 
could ill afford the losses at Franklin. General Adams was 
shot dead with his horse's feet over the enemy's breastworks. 
General Cleburne was killed and so were Generals Granberry, 
Strahl, and Gist. Generals Cockerell, Quarles and Brown 
were badly wounded. Pushing on to Nashville, General 
Hood entrenched without the city and waited reinforcements 
from Mississippi, which never came. On December 15th, 
General Thomas attacked him. The first day's result was 
undecided. On the second our men were overwhelmed. The 
defeat was disastrous and the hopes of the Confederacy in the 
West were at an end. Rallying his men as best he could, Gen- 
eral Hood retreated along the road on which they had 
marched a few weeks before flushed with victory. A month 
later he went into camp at Tupelo and asked to be relieved of 
the command. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



SHERMAN S MARCH. 



In the meantime General Sherman having returned to At- 
lanta from following Hood, determined to cut loose from his 
communications and march to Savannah. There the Federal 
fleet would furnish him with supplies and he would be free 
to go to Grant's assistance at Petersburg. Having perfected 
his plans he ordered all citizens to leave Atlanta. The Mayor 
and Coimcil petitioned him to revoke the order. They said : 
"It will involve consequences appalling and heartrending. 
There are many poor women with young children whose hus- 
bands are away in the army, prisoners or dead. They have 
no house to go to and no means to buy or build one ; no friends 
or relations to go to. How is it possible for these women to 
find shelter, or how can they live through the winter in the 
woods?" To this petition General Sherman replied that he 
would not revoke his orders because they were not intended to 
meet the humanities of the case ! They were to go he cared 
not where, the aged and infirm, women and children, and 
find shelter wherever they might — a cruel order. But Sher- 
man said, "War is hell," and, for his part, he made no at- 
tempt to alleviate its horrors. Before he left Atlanta he gave 
orders for its destruction. Houses were burned, engines, 
cars and everything destroyed that could be of any use. The 
railroads were torn up for miles and the rails heated and 
twisted. Then leaving the city a mournful picture of desola- 
tion, on November 15, 1864, with sixty-eight thousand 
men stripped of everything which would impede their march, 
he turned his face to the south. 

79 



80 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

One corps followed the Georgia Railroad and went by Mil- 
ledgeville; another took the line of the Central Railroad and 
went by Macon. At Griswoldville some State troops under 
General Gustavus W. Smith opposed the Latter corps and were 
badly cut up, but saved Macon from the fate of Atlanta. 

Sherman's march through Georgia has been commemorated 
in story and song as one of the most brilliant feats of the 
war. It was a career of {tillage and plunder; the unopposed 
advance of an army of veterans equal m numbers to the entire 
Confederate forces then in the field, met only by deiiant wom- 
en, frightened children and submissive slaves; an army per- 
fectly equipped for war, sustaining itself on the captures of a 
section well stored with a crop just harvested. General Lee 
said of it: "There was nothing to oppose him, and the only 
military problem to be solved was a simple calculation as to 
whether his army could live on the country by taking all that 
the people had/' The outrages of this great raid gave his 
soldiers the name of "Sherman's Bummers." There were 
many honorable soldiers in that army who deprecated its rav- 
ages, but General Sherman himself encouraged them. Xo 
just complaint can be made for the seizure of food for the 
men and horses, as they passed through an enemy's country; 
but for open violence, robbery and murder, that raid has no 
equal in modern warfare. Homes were entered and looted, 
the privacy of bedrooms forced, pictures and furniture wan- 
tonly destroyed, carpets ripped up, and old men were hung 
until they should tell the hiding-place of their money. This 
army of patriots advanced, gathering spoils and burning 
houses as they went, loaded with everything of value that 
could be carried, and at this day there is scattered throughout 
the North and West a vast collection of watches, silver-plate, 
jewelry, and books, and even communion services rifled from 
the churches, all sent home as trophies of a bloodless cam- 



Sherman's march. 81 

paign against peaceful women and children. Compare this 
record with General Lee's strict command when he was in- 
vading Pennsylvania : "No private property shall be injured 
or destroyed. It must be remembered that we make war only 
upon armed men." General Sherman gloated over the de- 
struction he had caused and said : "We consumed everything 
for thirty miles on either side of a line from Atlanta to Savan- 
nah — pigs, poultry, corn and cattle, and ten thousand horses 
and mules. I estimate the damage done to the State of Geor- 
gia at one hundred millions of dollars. At least twenty mil- 
lions enured to our advantage; the rest was simple waste and 
destruction." Compare this with General E. H. Anderson's 
report of his invasion of Pennsylvania : "The conduct of my 
troops was in the highest degree praiseworthy. Obedient to 
the order of the commanding general, they refrained from 
retaliating upon the enemy for outrages inflicted upon their 
homes. Peaceable inhabitants suffered no molestation. In a 
land of plenty they often suffered hunger and want. One- 
fourth their number marched ragged and barefooted thro 
towns in which merchants were known to have concealed ample 
supplies of clothing and shoes." 

After a month of looting, Sherman communicated with 
the Federal ships by the Ogeechee River and laid siege to the 
city. Poorly defended by militia under General Hardee, the 
city was soon taken and presented to President Lincoln as a 
"Christmas gift !" 

From Savannah, Sherman marched to Columbia, S. C, and 
visited upon that beautiful city all the pent-up wrath of the 
Abolition Party. Because South Carolina seceded first, they 
professed to attribute to her the chief responsibility of the 
war. The soldiers had free license to rob and burn. Drunk 
with liquor they went from house to house, torches in hand. 



32 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

drove the inmates out, rifled their homes of all their valuables, 
then applied the torch. General Sherman made no attempt 
to stop the incendiaries until the city was all in flames and 
the soldiers became riotous ; then he sent for another corps to 
preserve order. Columbia was left in even a worse condition 
than Atlanta, and one of the most beautiful cities in the 
South was left a mournful heap of blackened ruins. 

Thence passing through South Carolina the Federal army 
made its way to Fayetteville, N". C. Near that place ten thou- 
sand Confederate troops had gathered under Joseph E. John- 
ston. At Bentonville they made their last stand and a brisk 
battle was fought. But what avail was fighting then in an 
open field against such odds ! April 18th found the Fed- 
eral commander at Durham with Johnston at his front. Gen- 
eral Lee had surrendered just nine days before, and on the 
same terms General Johnston surrendered his little remnant 
of an army. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

SURRENDER OF THE WESTERN ARMY. 

When General Hood reached Tupelo with the fragments 
that escaped the retreat from Nashville, General Richard 
Taylor was ordered to relieve him. 

The troops were in a wretched condition, without arms 
or clothes. Resting for a while in February, they were moved 
towards North Carolina. A small detachment joined John- 
ston there. But meantime General J. H. Wilson had marched 
his cavalry through Alabama, taken Selma and Montgomery, 
and thence proceeded to Columbus and Macon, in Georgia. 
General Canby attacked Mobile from the land side, which 
city General Maury evacuated, going to Meridian, Miss. Here 
he joined Forrest and Taylor with the remnants of Hood's 
army. News was received of Lee's surrender, and a truce 
was made until they could hear the details. On May the -Ath 
Taylor surrendered the entire force under his command. 

After the terms of the surrender were effected, General 
Canby entertained General Taylor and his staff at lunch. 
While they were at the table the band outside began playing 
"Hail, Columbia." General Canby excused himself for a 
moment and went to the door. Then the Confederate guests 
noticed that the band suddenly stopped and, after a minute, 
struck up "Dixie." It was a delicate and thoughtful cour- 
tesy and showed that a soldier when a gentleman is net for- 
getful of the feelings of even an enemy. 

OLUSTEE. 

Florida had a little campaign all to herself in February, 

83 



84 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

It was nn election year, and Mr. Lincoln thought it 
it help his nomination if a1 least one Southern State 
should be completely Bubjugated and its government reorgan- 
ized within the Union. As Florida offered the greatest in- 
ducements for this purpose by reason of its exposed situation, 
General Seymour was sent from the coast with fifty-five hun- 
dred troops to possess the land. 

When he readied Jacksonville the small force doing picket 
duty about that place telegraphed to Savannah for help. Gen- 
eral Alfred II. Colquitt was hurried to the field with his brig- 
ade of Georgians and several other attached regiments, among 
them the Chatham Artillery of Savannah and six hundred 
cavalry. The opposing forces equal in number met at Ocean 
Pond, on the Olustee Eiver. It was, as General Hawley said, 
a fair, square, stand up fight, in the open pines; a stubborn 
fight in which the Federals first began to yield. Two regiments 
fled and were seen no more. After a time the ammunition of 
the Confederates gave out. The couriers and staff officers 
were riding furiously between the lines and a car some dis- 
tance in the rear, bringing cartridges in caps, pockets and 
haversacks to supply the men, while Lieut. Hugh Colquitt 
rode up and down in front of the line, urging them to stand 
firm until the ammunition came. They did stand fast, and 
when a general advance was made, drove the enemy back, 
pressing them until their retreat became a flight. The Yed- 
erals lost one-third their number and had one hundred and 
twenty horses killed. The Confederates captured five cannon, 
sixteen hundred rifles and quantities of ammunition. Night 
put an end to the pursuit, and daylight found the enemy on 
the march back to their ships, the campaign ended and noth- 
ing gained. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE TEAXS-^IISSISSIPPI CAMPAIGN. 

A week after the first battle of the war at Big Bethel, Va., 
an engagement occurred a thousand miles away at the other 
side of the Confederacy. 

The people of Missouri were almost unanimously Southern 
in sentiment, but the State was prevented from seceding by 
the prompt and vigorous measures adopted by Francis P. 
Blair, Jr., who seized the seat of government with the aid of a 
garrison of United States troops, and subdued the State to 
military authority. 

A motley collection of hunters and farmers hastily gathered 
together, armed with shotguns and squirrel-rifles, formed what 
was called the "Missouri Army," under General Sterling 
Price, and opposed the Federal troops. They went out to 
look for the enemy, and while they encamped near Springfield, 
Mo., the enemy came out to look for them. The surprise was 
mutual and a bloody battle was fought. General Lyon, the 
Federal commander, was shot dead from his horse as he 
headed a charge; his men wavered, turned and fled, and the 
day was won for the Southerners. 

Marching to Lexington, Mo., General Price besieged that 
town in the month of September and after a week it sur- 
rendered. With the fruits of this victory the Missourians 
were able to arm three thousand of their men, man a battery 
of artillery and equip a regiment of cavalry, besides capturing 
thirty-five hundred prisoners. $100,000 worth of commissary 
stores and $900,000 of stolen money. 

In the meantime General John C. Fremont was sent to de- 

85 



86 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

stroy Price's army with forty thousand men. General Price 
of course retreated before this force and leisurely retired to 
Neosho. But at this juncture Fremont was superseded by Gen- 
eral Hunter, who for some reason stopped the pursuit and 
turned back to St. Louis. 

During the winter General Earl Van Dora was placed in 
command of the Trans-Mississippi army. He was a dashing 
soldier, graceful and elegant in person and a fighter withal. 
Price's army was mustered into the Confederate service un- 
der Van Dorn. The early days of the spring of 1862 found 
them at Pea Ridge Mountain with an aggregate force of six- 
teen thousand men in front of the enemy. 

Unwisely dividing his army, General Van Dorn attacked in 
two directions. The first day he was successful, but the 
morning found the enemy in a strong position, and failing 
to turn them a retreat was ordered. 

With the loss of the gallant Ben McCulloch and Generals 
Slack and Mcintosh, the army fell back and left Missouri to 
the Federals. Just previous to the battle of Shiloh, General 
Van Dorn was ordered to transfer every man he could muster 
across the Mississippi to the support of Beauregard. He ar- 
rived too late to take part in that great battle. 

To save the now abandoned Trans-Mississippi, General 
Thomas C. Hindman was assigned to that command. With 
marvelous energy this able soldier gathered from every source 
an army of twenty thousand men and forty-six pieces ot artil- 
lery and established his headquarters at Little Pock, Ark. 

The Federal General Curtis retreated before him to Helena 
and in the meantime General T. H. Holmes was sent with 
authority over Hindman. 

With no settled plan in view, Hindman was ordered here 
and there across the State of Arkansas until December, 1862, 
when an engagement occurred at Prairie Grove, in which the 



THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI CAMPAIGN. 87 

Confederates were defeated. About the same time Arkansas 
Post, which was held for the protection of Little Rock, was 
captured with five thousand prisoners. 

On July 4th, while Grant was entering Vicksburg, General 
Holmes attacked and was repulsed at Helena, fell back to Lit- 
tle Rock and thence to Shreveport, where he went into winter 
quarters, being superseded by Kirby Smith. 

On September 8, 1863, a Federal fleet with ten thousand 
men attempted the passage of the Sabine River, the dividing 
line between Louisiana and Texas, with the intention of 
raiding all that section of the Confederacy. At Sabine 
Pass a poorly constructed fort was garrisoned by forty-three 
men under command of Lieut. Richard Downing. As the 
Federal vessels approached, Downing and his men opened fire 
upon them with two small cannon and their small arms. The 
fight lasted an hour and a half, at the end of which time this 
little company of heroes had captured two gunboats, sunk an- 
other, killed fifty men and wounded many others, captured 
one hundred and fifty of the enemy, and eighteen of his can- 
non, without losing a man of their own. In all the history of 
ancient and modern warfare there is no parallel to the victory 
of Sabine Pass. 

In April, 186-i, the Federal General Banks organized a 
grand expedition in fleets to move up Red River and attack 
Shreveport, where the Confederates were now commanded by 
General Dick Taylor. 

Having debarked from their ships, the Federals, thirty 
thousand strong, with wagon-teams, etc., gaily marched to- 
wards Shreveport. 

Near Mansfield, Dick Taylor fell upon them and captured 
their artillery and wagons, while those who escaped being 
taken prisoners fled in a wild panic to the rear. The summer 



88 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

and winter dragged along with no important movements and 
no advantages on either side. Cut off from the rest oi the 
Confederacy, the Trans-Mississippi army could neither give 
nor receive aid and on May 26, L865, after heing surren- 
dered by General Kirby Smith, it was finally disbanded. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE CONFEDERATE CAVALRY. 

The operations of the Confederate cavalry can hardly be 
mentioned in connection with the great battles of the war, 
because they were usually detached from the main army and 
their engagements were for the most part entirely independ- 
ent of the other branches of the service. 

The infantry affected to make much fun of the cavalry, 
calling them "Buttermilk Rangers," and other disrespectful 
names ; and one general even went so far as to say that nobody 
ever saw a dead cavalryman. But the cavalry was a very 
necessary arm of the service and the Confederate cavalryman 
was a bold rider, a daring raider, and a hard fighter when 
the occasion came. It is true that he was fond of buttermilk, 
and if a fat young pig or an obtrusive lamb attacked him on 
the highway he was not the man to run away until be had 
captured his assailant. This desperate resistance to domestic 
animals sometimes gave them a bad name, and in some parts 
of Georgia Wheeler's cavalry was actually believed to have 
taken things without arranging for a quid pro quo. 

While the two armies lay watching each other before Rich- 
mond. General J. E. B. Stuart conceived the idea of riding 
around McClelland just to see what he was doing. He start- 
ed out with twelve hundred cavalry, pretending mat he was 
going north to join Stonewall Jackson. Sweeping around to- 
wards the York River, he executed the most brilliant lide of 
the war. While passing through a ravine of a road he dis- 
covered a strong force of Federal cavalry on the hill above. 



90 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY 

Charging upon them after a brief resistance he routed them 
and came into possession of a camp full of valuable stores. 
The enemy proved to be the Fifth Regulars, General Lee's old 
regiment. Stuart lost one man, Captain Latane, the onlv 
man killed during the raid. Dashing into this camp Stuart 
captured the private baggage of his father-in-law, General 
Philip St. George Cooke, who commanded the Federal cavalry, 
and left a note for him expressing his regrets that he did not 
stay to see him. At Tunstalls one hundred men and three 
transports laden with supplies were captured. Forty-eight 
hours night and day the Confederates rode without rest. They 
destroyed two hundred loaded wagons, sunk three large trans- 
ports, captured three thousand horses, one hundred and sev- 
enty prisoners and destroyed $3,000,000 worth of army stores. 
Having gained McClelland's rear, they made for the James 
River and rode back to Richmond, men and horses thoroughly 
worn out from want of rest. Stuart said he had left one gen- 
eral behind him. Being asked who it was, he said, with a 
twinkle of the eye, "General Consternation." 

A second complete circuit of McClelland's army was made 
by Stuart a few weeks after the battle of Sharpsburg, with 
about the same result as the first, and after the battle of 
Fredericksburg he rode within twelve miles of Alexandria, 
seized the telegraph office and sent a telegram to Quarter- 
master General Meigs in Washington, complaining that the 
mules furnished Burnside's army were of such very inferior 
quality that he was embarrassed in sending back the wagon- 
trains which he captured from the Federals and requesting 
that better ones be provided in future. 

In June, 1863, as General Lee was preparing to cross the 
Rappahannock in his advance into Pennsylvania, twelve thou- 
sand of the Federal cavalry attacked Stuart at Brandy Station 
and were about to overwhelm him with superior numbers. 



THE CONFEDERATE CAVALRY 91 

His batteries of horse-artillery had been captured and the 
fight had assumed the character of a melee, with every man 
for himself against two or three of the enemy. 

As the Federals had gathered themselves for a final charge, 
Pierce Young came upon the field with Cobb's Legion, of 
which Hampton said with pride, "It was the best regiment in 
either army, North or South." Taking in the situation, he 
shouted to his Georgians and Carolinians, "Forward, men!" 
With sabers drawn, at full speed, they hurled themselves 
upon the ranks of blue, cutting and slashing to the right and 
loft. The fierceness of that charge carried everything before 
it. A vain attempt was made to hold their ground, but the 
repulse became a rout, and in wild disorder the Federals fled 
across the river to the refuge of their batteries. 

A year later, almost in sight of the battle-field of 1863, the 
victory was won again. 

In October, 1863, Stuart made a raid around Meade's posi- 
tion at Centreville and upon returning was pursued h} Gen- 
eral Kilpatrick with three thousand picked cavalry. Ketreat- 
ing towards Warrenton, at Buckland, Stuart suddenly turned 
and flew into the face of his pursuer, while Fitzhugh Lee 
struck him upon the flank. The surprise was complete. Kil- 
pa trick's men flew with the Confederates in wild pursuit and 
the rout is known as the "Buckland Kaces." 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

CAVALRY LEADERS. 

Nathan Bedford Forrest was a great cavalryman. General 
YVolsey, the commander-in-chief of the British army, s:'id that 
Forrest was the greatest military genius that the war pro- 
duced and one of the greatest cavalry leaders of the world. 
His field of operations reached from the Mississippi to the 
Cumberland. Some one asked him once, "General, to what 
do you attribute your remarkable success?" "Getting there 
first with the most men," said he. In February, 1864, Sher- 
man sent General Sooy Smith from Memphis with seven thou- 
sand cavalry to raid the country as far as Selma, Ala., and 
destroy everything in sight. Near West Point, Miss., they 
were confronted by Forrest with twenty-five hundred men. 
The Federals advanced to drive him off, but, to their great 
surprise, he repulsed them, capturing thirty-three stand of 
colors and drove them back on their road to Memphis, com- 
pletely breaking up the intended raid. 

On June 10, 1864, General Sturgis, with seventy-seven 
hundred men and twenty-two guns, set out with the special 
object of cutting Forrest off and destroying him. He found 
him at Bryces with only forty-two hundred troopers. But 
Forrest as usual took the initiative, dashing with fury upon 
the Federal line with pistols and sabers and driving them 
back in confusion until they were in full retreat. Their loss 
in killed and wounded was six hundred men, and they left six- 
teen hundred prisoners, eighteen pieces of artillery, five thou- 
sand stand of small arms, and two hundred and fifty wagons 
full of supplies in Forrest's hands. Forrest's capture of Colo- 

92 



CAVALRY LEADERS 98 

nel Straight with his entire command, when raiding North 
Alabama, would have made the reputation of any soldier. 
Straight with twenty-four hundred picked men started on a 
raid through Alabama, bound for Rome, Ga., to destroy the 
iron works of the Confederacy. Forrest sped after him, 
fighting day and night, until on the third day, with only three 
hundred men, he captured seventeen hundred, who were all 
that were left of the raiders. During the war General For- 
rest bad twenty-seven horses shot under him and himself 
killed more men than any commander since the days of the 
Crusaders. 

Early in July, 1863, General Bragg ordered General John 
H. Morgan with twenty-five hundred men to ride into Ken- 
tucky and threaten Roseeran's communications, so a» to veil 
his own retreat. Morgan started ostensibly to obey orders, 
but really to carry out a plan of his own — a great raid into 
Ohio. He rode to Lebanon, Ky., captured the garrison there, 
crossed the Ohio below Lexington in a captured steamboat, 
pushed on through Indiana, impressing fresh horses as he 
went and destroying every bridge that he crossed. Turning 
east he marched unmolested through the suburbs of Cincin- 
nati and across to the Ohio River near Blennerhassettfs Island. 
The whole country was aroused and militia and liox.^e guards 
turned out to intercept the bold raider while he was hotly 
pursued by the regular troops. But until he reached the 
Ohio he had avoided them all. Here they closed around him. 
About half his men escaped; but Morgan after nearly reach- 
ing the Virginia shore returned and at the head of the others, 
headed for Pennsylvania closely pursued. After a ride of 
four weeks he surrendered up in the Pan Handle with three 
hundred and sixty-four of his troopers. With sixty-eight other 
officers General Morgan was confined in the Ohio penitentiary, 
from which he escaped by cutting a tunnel under the walls. 



94 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY 

Perhaps the most daring partisan of the war was John S. 
Mosby. His operations were restricted to a few counties 
around Fairfax and were so bold in conception and so sudden 
in execution that, although he rarely had more than h\o hun- 
dred men, he kept a standing army of five thousand Federals 
on the watch lost he should ride into Washington and capture 
the President and his cabinet. 

A sample of Mosby's work was his exploit in February, 1863, 
when with only twenty-nine men he rode one night into 
Fairfax Court House and out again, passing through five 
thousand sleeping Federals. Going to the house occupied by 
Colonel Percy Wyndham, the daring raider found the Colonel 
was out, but he quietly captured all his clothes and hordes and 
two lieutenants:. Then Mosby went to the headquarters of 
General Stoughton. Some one called from the window, 
"Who goes there?" "Fifth New York! with dispatches for 
General Stoughton," said he. Climbing the stairs he asked 
the officer where General Stoughton was, and as he pointed to 
an adjoining room, Mosby thrust a pistol in his face, ordered 
him to be quiet and turned him over to one of his men. 
Then opening the door he found the General lying asleep 
on the bed. Mosby gave him a slap and told him to get up. 
Indignant and but half awake Stoughton asked who nad the 
audacity to be so disrespectful. "Did you ever hear of Mos- 
by?" "Yes, have you got him?" said Stoughton. "No, but 
he has got you. Get up and dress quickly. I must take you 
out of here." So with one general, two captains, thirty pri- 
vates and fifty-eight horses this dare-devil Captain of Rangers 
rode through the town, and through the fortifications of Cen- 
treville unchallenged by the pickets and delivered his spoils 
to Fitzhugh Lee. 

Mosby, with a few troopers, surprised a small party of 
Federal cavalry dismounted in the yard of a residence. Dash- 



CAVALRY LEADERB. 95 

ing in he attacked them, when a negro girl ran out of the 
house and exclaimed, "Gentlemens, Miss Ann say you all 
mustn't fight in her front yard !" But Mosby was so dis- 
courteous as to keep fighting in Miss Ann's yard until he had 
captured the intruders. 

The defeat of Sheridan at Brandy Station by General Wade 
Hampton, and at Trevillians by Fitzhugh Lee, the story of 
the "Buckland Races" and the handsome repulse of Wilson 
at Reams Station are well worth the reading. 

General Wheeler's ride around Rosecrans at Murfreesboro 
has been related. That bold rider, distinguished in two 
wars ; did valiant service in attacking the enemy's flanks, 
heading off his raiders, capturing his stragglers and finding 
out his movements, and the soldiers of the line always felt 
safe when they knew that Wheeler was around. His reputa- 
tion as a fighter made then, after the third of a century has 
conferred upon him a general's commission in the army of 
the United States. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE CONFEDERATE NAVY. 

The Confederate navy hardly deserved the name. The 
Southern States had but few skilled mechanics and fewer 
machine-shops, or rolling-mills. The ports were soon block- 
aded and nothing could be imported without running great 
risk of capture. Our navy was composed of river steamers, 
of old sea-going vessels converted into steamers and newly 
built gunboats fitted with old engines. 

In March, 1862, an event occurred near Norfolk which revo- 
lutionized the navies of the world. At the evacuation of the 
Portsmouth Navy Yard, the Federals burned and sank the 
ships at anchor there, among them the frigate Merrimac. The 
Confederates raised her, refitted her and converted her into 
an ironclad by covering her with railroad iron laid in a 
slanting position and spiked to her frame. She proved a 
clumsy craft, slow and difficult to turn. Nevertheless she was 
armed and manned, renamed "Virginia," and, under com- 
mand of Commodore Buchanan, steamed out from Norfolk 
one morning towards Fortress Monroe. From Newport News 
to Fortress Monroe there lay at anchor five Federal vessels of 
war, the Cumberland, the Congress, the Minnesota, 
the Roanoke and trie St. Lawrence. The Virginia steamed 
up and attacked one after the other, sinking the Cumberland 
and destroying the Congress. The Minnesota was run aground 
while the other two vessels escaped to the protection of the 
Fortress. Unwilling to trust the channel by night, the Vir- 
ginia retired to Norfolk, intending to come out in the morning 
and finish up the Minnesota. But when the morning came 

96 



THE CONFEDERATE NAVY. 97 

there appeared with it a strange craft which was at once rec- 
ognized as the Monitor. The two ironclads closed at once and 
began firing at close range. The fight lasted about nine hours, 
when both vessels withdrew, both damaged, but neither 
whipped. The next day the Virginia came out and offered 
battle, but the Monitor declined the challenge. The Monitor 
was afterwards lost in a storm off Cape Hatteras. The Vir- 
ginia was taken up James River after the evacuation of Nor- 
folk and being of too heavy draught for that stream she was 
blown up. The first day's success of the Virginia carried con- 
sternation to the cabinet at Washington. Secretary Stanton 
said: "The Merrimac will change the whole character of 
the war. She will destroy seriatim every naval vessel and lay 
all the cities on the seaboard under contribution." Indeed 
but for the meagre means at hand for refitting her and the 
timely appearance of the Monitor, she would have done that 
very tiling. Like the Virginia, other ships found in the Con- 
federate ports were fitted up as ironclads, but without excep- 
tion were clumsy and of heavy draught and soon became a 
prey either to the enemy or to the waves. 

THE ARKANSAS. 

The Arkansas wns begun at Memphis and finished on the 
Yazoo. She was one of the few vessels made entirely within 
our own lines and of home material. She was built on the 
plan of the Virginia, was armored with railroad iron, carried 
ten guns and laid ;i >\)m\ of eight knots an hour. As soon as 
she was completed. Captain I. N". Brown headed her down 
stream bound for Vicksburg. She soon met three Federal 
vessels, the ironclad Carondelet, the gunboat Tyler and the 
rani ( t )ueen of the West. 

The Arkansas showed fight, riddled the Carondelet, which 
raised the white flag, drove off the other two and proceeded 



98 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

on her course. Above Vicksburg in lae river lay two of the 
enemy's fleets under Admiral Farragut, a perfect forest of 
masts and smokestacks. Captain Brown, nothing daunted, 
told his pilot to shave the men-of-war as close as he could bo 
thai the rams could not strike him, and putting on all Bteam 
be went into their midst. He first engaged the flagship Hart- 
ford. Then the whole fleet let loose a storm of shot from 
every side that made him think he had gotten into a volcano. 
Firing from every gun the Arkansas went through them all. 
sinking one ram and reached the defenses at Vicksburg alivi 
but considerably battered. About sunset on the same day, 
three of the most formidable of the enemy's fleet came in 
sight and attempted her destruction ; but with half her crew 
on shore the gallant little ironclad gave them as good as 
they sent and they passed on. A few days later another at- 
tack was made on her bv the Essex, but she too went on her 
way the worse for the encounter. At Baton Rouge, her en- 
gines being disabled, "Lieutenant Stevens landed the crew, 
cut her from her moorings, and fired her with his own hands 
and sent her adrift down the river. With every gun shotted, 
her flag floating from her bow, and not a man on board, the 
Arkansas bore down upon the enemy and gave him battle. 
Her guns were discharged as the flames reached them and 
when her last shot was fired, the explosion of the magazine 
ended her brief but glorious career." 

THE TENNESSEE. 

The Tennessee, another ironclad of the Virginia type, was 
built on the Alabama River. Her armor plating was made 
in Atlanta and when completed she was with some difficulty 
gotton into Mobile Bay. On August 5, 1864, Admiral Far- 
ragut entered the bay with his fleet. The Tennessee, under 
Admiral Buchanan, promptly went to meet them. The moni- 



THE CONFEDERATE NAVY 99 

tor Tecumseh reserved her fire until she was within a quarter 
of a mile, but she never delivered it, for just then she was 
struck by a torpedo and immediately sank. The rest of the 
fleet passed the Tennessee, going up the bay, in the meantime 
capturing three of our smaller wooden vessels. The daring 
Confederate followed them, when the whole fleet turned to 
crush her. The Hartford, the Lackawanna, the Chickasaw, the 
Winnebago, the Ossipee, the Monongahela, all vied with one 
another for the honor of sinking the rebel. For four hours 
they poured shot into her without cessation until her engines 
became useless and the ship unmanageable; then she surren- 
dered. Admiral Buchanan was wounded and two men killed, 
but the Tennessee was practically unhurt. 



L.ofC. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE DESTROYERS. 

The Sumter. 

But the great damage done to the enemy was to his Bhipping 
on the seas. The Sumter was an ordinary steamer refitted 
and armed with five guns. She was commanded by Raphael 
Semmes. Lying in the mouth of the Mississippi, she awaited 
an opportunity to slip by the blockading vessel's side, and 
finally steamed out in their very teeth. Her mission was to 
destroy the enemy's commerce. During her short career of 
six months she captured seventeen Federal vessels and her 
appearance upon the seas created such a panic among the 
Northern skippers that they put nearly all their vessels under 
foreign flags. The Sumter put in at Gibraltar, but under 
the provisions of international law could obtain no coal, and 
being of no further service was sold. 

The Alabama. 

But Admiral Semmes' fame rests upon his service with the 
Alabama. Named for the State of his adoption this historic 
cruiser, built in England for the Confederate government, 
entered upon a career of capture and destruction which swept 
American commerce from the seas, forced the carrying 
trade into the hands of other nations and dealt it a blow from 
which it has never yet recovered. Ii is too long a story to 
tell the history of the Alabama, From the very first her 
name became a terror to merchantmen. Keeping in the track 
of traders she ran down and destroyed everything that car- 

100 



THE DESTROYERS. 101 

ried the Stars and Stripes. During her brief career of less 
than two years she sailed seventy-eight thousand miles and 
captured sixty-three American vessels, and after the war the 
claims presented by the United States for losses sustained at 
her hands amounted to more than $7,000,000. In June, 
1864, she had come into Cherbourg, France, for repairs. 
While there the United States war vessel Kearsarge steamed 
into the harbor. Admiral Semmes sent her captain word 
that if he would wait outside he would fight him next day. 
The news was quickly spread abroad. That Sunday fifteen 
thousand people, many of whom had come from Paris, cov- 
ered Cherbourg heights and every available spot watching for 
the fight. The Alabama steamed proudly out of the harbor 
and outside the three league limit and delivered fire at the 
waiting enemy. Circling around each other they fired broad- 
side after broadside, solid shot and shell. After an hour or 
more Captain Kell reported that the water was rushing in the 
Alabama's side, her fires were out and he could no longer 
keep her afloat. In ten minutes more she settled end fore- 
most and the scourge of the seas sank beneath the waves. 

The Florida. 

The Florida was another English built vessel. Under the 
command of Commander J. N". Moffit she ran a course of 
twelve months, capturing and burning $5,000,000 of property 
afloat. In October, 1863, she entered the neutral port of 
Bahia, Brazil, where she found the United States sloop of 
war Wachusetts. Feeling quite secure under the ncutralilv 
laws, her captain and most of the crew went ashore. But 
before the day broke the Wachusetts got under way, ran into 
the Florida and badly disabled her. As the Federal backed 
off and saw the Florida was not sinking, he fired a brodside 
into her, when she surrendered and was taken out to sea. The 



102 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

Tinted States made an apology to Brazil and the captain of 
the Wachusetta went through the mockery of a court-martial. 

The Shenandoah. 

In October, 1864, the Shenandoah, under command of Cap- 
tain James I. Waddell, steamed out from the Canaries to de- 
stroy the enemy's commerce. In nine months she captured 
fifty-one vessels. Away off in the Pacific in August, 1865, 
Captain Waddell heard of the collapse of the Confederacy. 
He immediately dismounted his guns, closed his port-holes 
and made his way to Liverpool, where he arrived November 
5th, and asked if the report he had heard was true. Punch 
afterwards had an amusing cartoon representing Captain 
Waddell sitting astride a gun on the Shenandoah and shouting 
to a pilot, "Is it true that Queen Anne is dead?" 

The Shenandoah captured twenty-five vessels three months 
after Lee had surrendered. The aggregate claims which the 
United States made against England alone for actual losses 
by vessels of the Confederacy, which it was alleged had come 
from English ports, were $26,408,170. Add to this enormous 
amount the damage done by our ships with which England 
had no connection at all, and to that the losses by the restric- 
tion of trade, and it will be admitted that the Confederate 
navy was after all not entirely harmless. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

INCIDENTS OF THE WAR. 

li is a remarkable fact that the President and one of the 
Vice-Presidents of the United States during the war were 
Southern-born men. Not only that but Admiral Farragut, 
Generals Thomas, Sykes, Reynolds, Crittenden, Blair, Buford, 
Cooke, Fremont, Pope, Hunter, Gibbon and Sanders were 
Southern-born men; and more than that, two hundred thou- 
sand of the enlisted men in the Federal army during the war 
were attributed to the Southern States. 

Families were singularly divided in their sympathies. Gen- 
eral Thomas Drayton of South Carolina was brother to Com- 
modore Drayton of the United States Navy. General Lee 
had a nephew who was a colonel on the other side. Of Henry 
Clay's grandchildren three were in the Federal army and four 
with the Confederates. General Thomas L. Crittenden and 
Colonel Eugene Crittenden were Federal officers, while their 
brother George was a Confederate general. General John C. 
Breckinridge and his three sons cast their fortunes with the 
South. His cousins, distinguished Presbyterian divines, were 
uncompromising Unionists. One of these had two sons in 
each army and at the sanguinary battle of Atlanta, Federal 
General Joseph C. Breckinridge was captured by his brother, 
Colonel W. C. P. Breckinridge. 

The presence of mind which constant danger develops 
was strikingly shown on many occasions during the war. At 
Seven Pines a courier came unexpectedly upon a Federal regi- 
ment. Riding towards them he said, "What regiment is 

103 



10-1 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

this?" "Seventh Massachusetts," was the reply. "All right," 
said he, "the orders are to hold your position at all hazards," 
then turned and rode off before a scattering volley could reach 
him. 

At Perryville General Polk believing that the Confederate 
troops were firing into each other, rode up to the colonel of 
the regiment that was firing and asked him angrily what he 
meant by firing on his own friends. The colonel said, "Why, 
I don't think there is any mistake. I am sure they are the 
enemy." "Enemy ! Why, I have just left them. Cease fir- 
ing, sir ! What is your name ?" said General Polk. "I am 
Colonel Blank of the Fortieth Indiana. And who are you, 
sir ?" Suddenly aware that he was in front of a regiment of 
the enemy, his dark clothes befriending him, General Polk 
shook his fist in the face of the colonel and said, "I will show 
you who I am, sir. Cease firing immediately." Then gallop- 
ing down the line he ordered the men, "Cease firing," and 
reaching the cover of the woods he turned and was soon 
among his own men. 

In the Valley campaign General Stonewall Jackson rode 
down to a stream at Cross Keys to find himself in front of a 
gun which commanded the bridge. He saw he had not been 
recognized and quick as a flash he called out, "Who ordered 
that gun to be placed there?" "Colonel Blank," was the re- 
ply of the officer in charge. "Remove it instantly, and place 
it higher on the hill," ordered Jackson in a tone that carried 
authority with it; and while the command was being obeyed 
he turned, crossed the bridge and put spurs to his horse. The 
Federal officer, perceiving that he had been duped, turned his 
gun and sent a shot after the retreating general, but it went 
wide of the mark and he escaped unharmed. 

No less admirable was the grit of the soldier in the very 
face of death. 



INCIDENTS OF THE WAR 105 

At Spottsylvania a surgeon found a poor fellow shot through 
the lungs with bloody foam oozing from his mouth at every 
breath. "My poor fellow/' said the doctor, "you are dying. 
If you would like any message sent to your friends, tell it to 
me and I will see that they get it." Raising his eyes and 
breathing with difficulty the soldier said hoarsely : "Doctor — 
put — your hand — in my — pocket." The doctor did so, and 
brought out a piece of tobacco and a few Confederate bills. 
"How much — money — is there ?" gasped the dying man. The 
doctor counted it and said, "Eleven dollars and seventy-five 
cents." "Doctor," said he, "I'll — bet you — eleven dollars — 
and — seventy-five — cents — I'll — get well." And he did. 
General Forrest used to tell this story on himself: 
While Bragg was retreating from Tennessee, Forrest was in 
the rear guard. An old lady ran out of her gate as he was 
passing and urged him to turn back and fight, and as he 
rode on without stopping she shook her fist at him and said, 
"Oh, you cowardly rascal ! I wish Forrest was here. He 
would make you fight." 

At Fort Smith, Ark., a squad of Confederates who were 
guarding a crossing found a small cannon. They concluded 
to mount it on a mule and after firing a parting shot at the 
enemy, carry it off. They loaded it up and when the blue- 
coats appeared on the other side, the gunner pointed the mule 
across the river and said, "Shoot her off." But when the fuse 
began to sizz and the sparks to fall on her shoulders, the old 
mule uegan to revolve and the boys instantly dropped to the 
ground. Just then the captain came down and called out 
"Up, men, and into line." No one stirred. The command 
came again more earnestly, when one of them said, "Captain, 
we can't get up until that old mule shoots." Just then the 
gun fired, the mule tumbled over and the shell struck wide of 
the mark on the hillside. The captain cried out, "Every man 



106 THE CAMPAIGNS OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

take care of himself ; the Yankees are all around us !" and 
made for the woods. But the}' soon rallied and after a good 
laugh retreated in good order with the mule and the gun. 

In a sketch like this it would be impossible to even enumer- 
ate hundreds of skirmishes which occurred during the war: 
some of which almost attained to the dignity of a battle. But 
in these fights the Confederate soldier showed the same high 
qualities which made him conspicuous in the greater battles. 

The defense of Charleston, of Port Hudson, of Fort Fisher, 
of Fort Morgan, and of Fort Pulaski, against the navies of 
the United States, were characterized by stubborn resistance 
against greatly superior numbers. 

The night attack of Gordon on Fort Steadman before Pe- 
tersburg, and the defense of Fort Gregg and Sabine Pass, 
deserve to rank with Gettysburg and Spottsylvania. The cap- 
ture of Kinston, the attack on Plymouth and the battle of 
Drewry's Bluff and of Munfordsville deserve more than pass- 
ing mention. But the records are open for a larger study of 
the war, and from them some one will write a full and fair 
history of this great struggle for the rights of the South under 
the Constitution. 

In every description of a battle the name of the command- 
ing general shines out with a reflected glory. It is just that 
the leader should receive praise. It is he who plans and 
directs ; without his genius the battle could not be won. But 
shall no word of praise be found for the private soldier who 
bore the heat and burden of the day ? It was he who, ragged 
and footsore, tramped the frozen roads, leaving bloody foot- 
prints on the ground, or marched in heat of summer stifled 
with the dust of travel ; who suffered hunger and privation ; 
whose annual pay was not enough to buy a suit of clothes, 
while the dear wife and children were lacking at home for 
food ; who mar«hed and fought and starved with no thought 



INCIDENTS OF THE WAR 107 

of yielding; who braved the fever of the hospital and the 
deadly peril of the battle-field with absolute fearlessness. The 
glory of the Confederate army belongs to the private soldier. 
All honor to him ! There is not in all history an example of a 
more unselfish patriot, nor a more determined foe than the 
Confederate soldier ! 



KoR 5 - AUG 22 1901 



